mSm 



i 



mm 



HS 



warn 



m 



':■ . '■ 



i 



mam 



mm 



m 



mm 



mRBBmsum 



I 



m 



wm 



Hjaani 



SHI 



inn 



Hh 




COTTAGE CHILDREN. (liY T. GAINSBOROUGH.) 



STORIES 



OF 




RT AND 



H 



RTISTS 



BY 



CLARA ERSKINE CLEMENT 

ii 

AUTHOR OF HANDBOOKS OF "LEGENDARY AND MYTHOLOGICAL ART," "PAINTERS, SCULPTORS, 

ARCHITECTS, AND ENGRAVERS," " CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS AND 

STORIES OF THE SAINTS," ETC. 



Biustrateti 



« / 





BOSTON 

TICKNOR AND COMPANY 
1887 






\H^ 



Copyright, 1SS0, 
By Clara Erskine Clement. 



.-/// right* reserved. 



SHnibcrsitg ^3rrss : 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 



IS DEDICATED TO MY LITTLE DAUGHTER, 

HOPE, 

WHOSE FONDNESS FOR "STORIES," IS AN INCENTIVE TO 
THE WRITING OF THEM. 

CLARA ERSKINE CLEMENT. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Zettxis 1 

Pausias 3 

Apelles 3 

Protogenes 5 

Aetion 7 

The First Bas-relief .... 8 

Phidias 10 

Myron -13 

Callimachus 14 

Alcamenes 15 

Praxiteles 16 

Venus dei Medici 17 

The Niobe Group 18 

The Tomb of Mausolus ... 22 

The Colossus at Rhodes ... 24 
The Temple of Diana at Ephe- 

sus 26 

The Laocoon Group 28 

The Farnese Bull 29 

The Bronze Horses of Venice . 30 
The Dioscuri on Monte Cavallo, 

at Rome 32 



PAGE 

Cimabue 43 

Giotto 44 

Buffalmacco 49 

Era Angelico da Fiesole . . 51 

Leonardo da Vinci 52 

Michael Angelo Buonarotti . 58 

Raphael 66 

The Legend of the Painter of 

Florence 82 

Onorata Rodiana 86 

Titian 87 

Andrea del Sarto 102 

Correggio Ill 

Brunelleschi 122 

Ghiberti 129 

Donatello 131 

Benvenuto Cellini 135 

domenichino 143 

Guido Reni 147 

II Soddoma 153 

Elisabetta Sirani 155 

The Naturalists 157 



Jlemfslj Artists. 



Hubert van Eyck . . . . . 159 

Jan van Eyck 162 

Quintin Massys, or Matsys . 165 



Peter Paul Rubens .... 166 

Frans Snyders 176 

Anton Vandyck 177 



CONTENTS. 



Painting in Proliant. 



Bembeaxdt van Byn 



PAGE 

197 



Painting in ©rtmang. 
Albert Dueee 210 



Spam's!) Painting. 



Luis de Morales 237 

Jose de Eibera 238 

Velasquez 241 



Mukillo 247 

Aloxso Caxo 263 



tfrend) painters. 



Nicholas Poussin 266 

Claude Lorraine 267 

Axtoine Watteau 274 

Jean Baptiste Greuze . . . 274 

Madame Le Brun . . . 275 

Emile Jean Horace Vernet . 282 



Jacques -Louis Dayid .... 287 
Jean Dominique Augustin In- 
gres 1'SS 

Hippoltte Delaeoche .... 289 
Ferdinand Victor Eugene De- 
lacroix 290 



Painting in England. 



William Hogarth 298 

Joshua Beynolds 303 

Eichard Wilson 317 

Thomas Gaixsboeough . . . 318 

Geoege Eomxey 322 



Thomas Laweexce 324 

Joseph Mallard William Tur- 

xee 330 

Ed-win Laxdseee 335 



INDEX 



347 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Cottage Children (T. Gainsborough) Frontispiece 

Bust of Jupiter (Vatican) 3 

Head of Juno (Ludoyisi Palace) 6 

The Quoit-thrower (after Myron) 7 

The First Bas-relief (Original Design) 9 

The most Ancient Form of Greek Chariot 11 

Antique Statue of Niobe (Florence Gallery) 19 

Niobe Defiant . . . . ' 21 

The Venus of Milo (Louyre) 23 

The Laocoon (Vatican) 28 

The Farnese Bull (Naples Museum) 30 

The Bronze Horses of Venice (Cathedral of St. Mark) 31 

Figures from the Temple of Minerva at Egina 33 

Youths preparing to join the Cavalcade (Parthenon) 37 

Torso of a Statue of Theseus 37 

Group of Maidens and Musicians (Parthenon) 38 

Youths on Horseback (Parthenon) 39 

Bacchus playing with a Lion (Monument of Lysicrates) 40 



xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PACE 

Portrait of Cimabue 1.", 

The Madonna of Santa Maria Novella (Cimabue) 4"> 

Giotto's Towee (Florence) 48 

Portrait of Fra Angelico 51 

Outline Copy of an Angel ( Fra Angelico) 52 

Portrait of Dante (Giotto) 53 

Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci 

The Last Supper (Leonardo) 56 

Mona Lisa del Giocondo (Leonardo) .".7 

Portrait of Michael Angelo Buonarotti 59 

Madonna and Child (Unfinished Medallion. Michael Angelo) ... 63 

Statue of Moses (Michael Angelo) 65 

Portrait of Raphael (by Himself) 07 

Portrait of Cesar Borgia (Raphael) 69 

La Madonna della Sedia (Raphael) 71 

The Sistine Madonna (Raphael) 77 

Portrait of Titian (by Himself) 89 

Outline of the Presentation of the Virgin (Titian) 92 

Group (from the Same) 94 

The High-priest (from the Same) .... 98 

The Virgin (from the Same) 99 

Portrait of Andrea del Sarto 103 

Portrait of Correggio 105 

Group of Singing Angels (Correggio) 109 

Portion of Ceiling — Convent en Parma (Correggio) 113, 117 

Saint John the Evangelist (Correggio) 119 

East Door of Florence Baptistery (Ghiberti) 127 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. x iii 



PAGE 



Group of Dancing Children (Donatello) .... 133 

Statue of Saint George (Donatello) 137 

Beatrice Cenci (Guido Eeni) 149 

Aurora (Guido Eeni) 152 

Head of Roxana (II Soddoma) 153 

Portrait of Peter Paul Rubens 167 

Children of Rubens (Rubens) 171 

The Boy Rubens at his Work 174 

The Boar-hunt (Snyders) 177 

Head of a Grandee (Vandtck) 178 

Portrait of Anton Vandtck 179 

Portrait of Charles I. (Vandyck) 183 

Vandyck painting the Children of Charles I 187 

Portrait of Peter Breughel (from an Etching by Vandyck) .... 191 

Rembrandt and his Wife (from an Etching by Rembrandt) .... 198 

A Rabbi (from an Etching by Rembrandt) 199 

Joseph relating his Dream to his Brethren (from an Etching by 

Rembrandt) 204 

Portrait of Albert Durer (by Himself) 211 

The Nativity (from a Copper-plate by Durer) 223 

Saint George and the Dragon (Durer) 225 

The Rhinoceros (Durer) 229 

The Maids of Honor (Velasquez) 239 

Beggar-boys at Play (Murillo) 249 

Portrait of Murillo (by Himself) 259 

The Seaport with the Great Tower (Claude Lorraine) 269 

Portrait of Madame Le Brun (by Herself) 277 



xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1- VI- 



The Dog of the Regiment (Horace Veknet) 2S3 

Entrance Gates, Hampton Court 293 

Portrait of the Duchess of Devonshire (Sib Joshua Reynolds) . . . 303 

The Ladies Waldegrave (Sir Joshua Reynolds) 313 

The Blue Boy (Gainsborough) 319 

Portrait of Mrs. Carwardine (George Romxey) 323 

Countess Grey and Children (Sir Thomas Lawrence) 325 

One of Landseer's Lions — Nelson Monument, London 336 

The Connoisseurs (Sir Edwin Landseee) 337 

Portrait of Mrs. Siddons (T. Gainsborough) 346 



Stories of Art and Artists. 



Stories of Art and Artists. 




AINTING was practised in Egypt three thousand years before 

the birth of Christ. But Egypt lost her place among the 

great powers of the world, and her art declined and died. 

When, therefore, in these days, we speak of the origin of painting 

or of sculpture, we mean that of classic art, — or European art, which 

is traced back to the Greeks, — and there are many interesting stories 

told of the ancient artists. 



ZEUXIS. 

This celebrated painter was a native of Heracleia, and flourished 
in the last part of the fifth century before Christ. He travelled much 
in Greece, and probably visited Sicily. 

He belonged to the Ephesian school of painting, which was char- 
acterized by its perfect imitation of the objects represented, and its 
reproduction of personal beauty in its subjects. 

The most celebrated work by Zeuxis was a picture of Helen, 

painted for the temple of Juno at Croton. In order to make this a 

representation of the highest excellence of personal beauty in woman, 

five of the most lovely virgins were chosen as models for the picture, 

so that the painter might select the most beautiful features of face 

1 



2 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

and form among the five, — and thus in his one figure give a high 
average of feminine personal beauty. This picture was much praised 
by Cicero and other ancient writers; and Zeuxis himself declared 
not only that it was his masterpiece. I nit that it could not be sur- 
passed by any otber artist. 

The painter received a large sum for this work ; and before it was 
dedicated in the temple he placed it on exhibition, and from the 
admission fees made a great gain. Zeuxis was vain, not only of his 
talent, but of his wealth, of which he made much display ; at times 
he wore a rich robe, on which his own name was embroidered in 
letters of gold. 

This artist was a rival of another great painter. Parrhasius, and 
on one occasion these two men engaged in a trial of skill, in order 
to determine which one could most perfectly imitate inanimate objects. 
Zeuxis painted a bunch of grapes so perfectly that when it was publicly 
exposed the birds tried to peck them ; the painter was more than 
satisfied with this testimony to his power, and confidently demanded 
of Parrhasius that he should draw aside the curtain which concealed 
his picture. It proved that the vain artist had been himself deceived, 
since the curtain was a painted one, and not a piece of stuff, as it had 
appeared to be. Zeuxis admitted his defeat, and generously pointed 
out that he had only deceived birds, while Parrhasius had deceived 
an artist. 

Another time Zeuxis painted a boy carrying grapes, ami when 
the birds flew T at them the painter was very angry, saying, " I have 
painted the grapes better than the boy; for had I made him perfectly 
like life, the birds would have been frightened away." 

Zeuxis also excelled in dramatic subjects, and executed many 
remarkable works. When Agatharcus, a scene-painter, boasted of his 
celerity in his work, Zeuxis replied : " I confess that I take a long time 
to paint ; for I paint works to last a long time." 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



PAUSIAS. 



This painter was born about 360 b. c, and lived at Sicyon. He is 
famous as being the first artist who used encaustic painting for the 
decoration of the ceilings and walls of houses. Encaustic painting is 
any kind of painting in which heat is used to fix the colors : thus, 
china-ware, tiles, faience, and many sorts of pottery are illustrations of 
encaustic painting, which before the time of Pausias had only been 
employed for representing the stars on the ceilings of temples ; but the 
special kind used by him was done in heated or burnt wax, and 
was employed for just such interior decoration as that which we 
now distinguish by the general name of fresco painting. 

The most celebrated works of Pausias represented the " Sacrifice of 
an Ox," a " Cupid with a Lyre," and " Methe, or Drunkenness," drink- 
ing out of a glass goblet through which her face was seen ; this was a 
remarkable effect. 

Pausias loved Glycera, a lovely young garland-twiner, and he so 
studied her and her flowers that he became very skilful in represent- 
ing them on canvas, and won great fame as a flower-painter. A 
portrait which he made of Glycera was mentioned and praised by 
several ancient writers. 

Lucius Lucullus bought at Athens a copy of this picture, for which 
he paid the large sum of two talents, or twenty-three hundred and 
sixty dollars. 

APELLES. 

Apelles was the most distinguished of all the Greek painters. He 
lived from about 352 to 308 before Christ. This artist spent the most 
important portion of his life at the court of Alexander the Great, and 
executed his greatest works for that monarch. 

His picture of the Venus Anadyomene — which means, Venus rising 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



out of the sea — was his most famous work. Iu it the goddess was 
wringing her hair, and the silvery drops fell around her in such a way 
as to throw a transparent veil before her form. This picture was 
painted originally for the temple of jEsculapius, at Cos. which city has 
been called the birthplace of Apelles ; Augustus carried this great work 
to Rome, and placed it in the temple which he dedicated to Julius 

Caesar. After a time it fell into complete 
decay, and during the reign of Nero a 
copy was made of it by Dorotheus. 

Apelles painted many allegorical pic- 
tures, such as representations of " Slan- 
der," " Thunder," " Lightning." and 
" Victory ; " but it is probable that after 
the celebrated " Venus," some of his 
portraits of Alexander were his best 
works. Of one of these pictures the king 
said: "There are two Alexanders: one 
is the son of Philip, who is unconquer- 
able ; the second, the picture by Apelles. 

BUST OF JUPITER, FOUND AT OTRICOLI ; -\\-PJ,.], j s inimitable " 
NOW IN THE VATICAN PALACE, 

In spite of the great perfection to 
which Apelles carried his art, he never relinquished his studies, ami 
was careful to use his pencil every day. From him came the maxim, 
Nidla dies sine linen, — "No day without a line;" or, "No day 
without something accomplished." 

Apelles also made improvements in the mechanical part of his 
art. From what is now positively known, his principal discovery was 
the use of varnish, or that which is now called glazing or toning ; but 
other discoveries are attributed to him. 

That the character of Apelles was nohle and attractive is shown by 
the fact, that, although Ptolemy had formed an opinion of the artist 




STORIES OF AET AND ARTISTS. 5 

which was not in his favor, yet when Apelles was driven by a storm to 
Alexandria, and the sovereign brought into contact with the painter, their 
relations became those of true friendship ; and though Apelles' enemies 
endeavored to ruin him with Ptolemy, their schemes were fruitless. 

Apelles treated other artists with great generosity, and was the 
means of bringing the works of Protogenes, of Rhodes, into the favor 
they merited. He did this by going to Rhodes, and buying pictures of 
Protogenes, for which he paid high prices, declaring that they were 
worthy to be sold as his own work. Apelles said that he himself was 
excelled by Amphion in grouping, and by Asclepiodorus in perspective, 
but that he claimed grace as his own peculiar gift, in which he excelled 
all others. He also blamed Protogenes for finishinQ- his works too 
much, and asserted that he himself knew " where to take his hand 
from his work." 

One of the peculiarities of Apelles was, that when he had finished a 
picture he exhibited it in a public place, and concealed himself where he 
could hear what was said of it. On one occasion a cobbler criticised 
the shoes of a figure ; the next day the correction he had suggested was 
made. Then the cobbler proceeded to find fault with the legs, when 
Apelles rushed out in a fury, and commanded the cobbler to speak only 
of such things as he knew about. From this circumstance came the 
proverb : Ne ultra crepiclam sutor, which means, " Let not the shoe- 
maker go beyond his last ; " but is more generally given, " Let every 
man stick to his trade." 



PROTOGENES. 

This Rhodian artist became very famous, for after the praise of 
Apelles others were roused to the appreciation of the great artist who 
had been content to do his best, and was too modest to assert himself. 
His most celebrated work was the picture of Ialysus, a mythical hero, 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



grandson of the god Apollo, and a .special patron and guardian of the 
island of Rhodes. The artist represented him either as hunting or as 
returning from the chase. Some of the ancient writer- relate that 
Protogenes spent seven, or even eleven, years on this picture. Pliny 
says that the artist became discouraged in his attempt to paint, to his 

liking, the foam at the 

wg"M >\. mouth of a tired hound; 

7' >*jv^ finally, in his impatience he 

threw a sponge, with which 

he had repeatedly washed 

off his colors, at the offend- 
ing spot. — and thus pro- 
duced the very effect he 
wished ! 

This great work was 
doubtless dedicated in the 
temple of Ialysus, at 
Rhodes ; and when Deme- 
trius Poliorcetes besieged 
that city, he was careful to 
spare this temple for the 
sake of the picture of Pro- 
togenes. Demetrius also 
showed marked personal 
attentions to the painter, 
who lived in a cottage out- 
side of the walls of the city, and quietly continued his work in the 
midst of the siege. When Demetrius demanded of him how he dared 
to remain in so exposed a position, Protogenes answered: "I know- 
that you are at war with the Rhodians, but not with the arts." Upon 
this reply, Demetrius stationed a guard about the cottage, and the 




HEAD OF JUNO. (POSSIBLY BY AI.CAMF.XKS. IX THE 
LUDOVISI l'ALACE, ROME.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 7 

painter worked quietly on, amidst the din of war which raged all about 
him. The Ialysus was carried to Rome 
in later times, and placed in the Temple 
of Peace. 

Another remarkable picture by Proto- 
genes was the representation of a satyr 
leaning against a column. The painter 
bestowed great pains upon the figure of 
the satyr, and considered it the best part 
of the work; but on the column he painted 
a partridge, which was so true to nature 
that much attention was given to it, — 
even the bird-sellers brought tame par- 
tridges to the picture, and when the living 
birds saw the painted one they chirped to 
it as if it were alive. This amused and the quoit-thrower, (a copy op 

THE ORIGINAL BY MYRON.) 

delighted the populace, but it was so dis- 
agreeable to Protogenes that he painted out the bird, in order that 
men might see the satyr. 




AETION. 



This artist is sometimes said to have lived in the time of Alexander; 
but Lucian, who gave an account of him, distinctly declares that he 
lived in the time of Hadrian and the Antonines. 

He painted a wonderful picture of the " Nuptials of Alexander and 
Roxana," with Erotes, or cupids, busy about them, and with the armor 
of the king. When this work was exhibited at the Olympic games, one 
of the judges — Proxenidas — exclaimed : " I reserve crowns for the 
heads of the athletas, but I give my daughter in marriage to the painter 
Aetion, as a recompense for his inimitable painting." Later, this picture 



8 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

was carried to Rome, and it has been .said that Raphael sketched one of 

his finest compositions from it. The chief excellence of this painter 
was in his mode of mixing and laying on of colore. 



THE FIEST BAS-RELIEF. 

About twenty-five hundred years ago there lived at Sicyon, in 
Greece, a modeller in clay, whose name was Dibutades. He had a 
daughter who is called by two names, Kora and Callirhoe. This young 
girl could not assist her father much, but she went each day to the 
flower-market, and brought home flowers which she put in vases in the 
little shop, to make it pleasant for the modeller, as well as attractive 
to his customers. Kora was very beautiful; and as she went out with 
her veil about her, the young Greeks of Sicyon caught glimpses of her 
face, which made them wish to see her again, — and thus many of them 
visited the artist Dibutades. 

One of these young men at length asked the modeller to receive him 
as an apprentice: his request was granted, and by this means the young 
Greek made one of the family of the artist. The three lived a life of 
simple happiness; the young man could play upon the reed, ami had 
much knowledge, which fitted him to be the teacher of the lovely Kora. 
Alter a time, for some reason that we know not. it was best for him 
to go away; and he then asked Kora to promise that she would be his 
wife. Vows of betrothal were exchanged, and they were ven sad at 
the thought of parting. 

The last evening, as they sat together. Kora suddenly seized a coal 
from the brazier, and traced upon the wall the outline of the face which 
was so dear to her. It was an inspiration on the part of the girl : and 
so correct was the likeness, that when Dibutades saw it he instantly 
knew whom it represented. Then he wished to do his part, for he loved 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



9 



the young man also ; so lie brought his clay, and from the outline 
which Kora had made he filled in a portrait in bas-relief, the first that 
was ever made. Thus the love of Kora had originated a great art. 

After this time, Dibutades perfected himself in the making of 
medallions and busts, and decorated many beautiful Grecian buildings 
with his work. He also founded a school for modelling at Sicyon, and 




THE FIRST BAS-RELIEF. 



became so famous that several Greek cities claimed the honor of having 
been his birthplace. 

The first bas-relief made from Kora's outline was preserved in the 
NympliEeum at Corinth about two centuries, after which it was de- 
stroyed by fire. Kora's lover became her husband, and a famous artist 
at Corinth. 



10 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



I'll IDIAS. 



Although the Egyptians were great sculptors, as some of their 
remaining works show, and though the Lions of Nineveh attest the 
skill of the Assyrians, yet the sculpture of the Greeks is that which 
is most admired by all the world. Of all Greek sculptors Phidias is 
the most famous. lie was the son of Charmides. and was horn at 
Athens about 500 B.C., becoming very prominent in the time when 
Pericles was sole ruler at Athens. Phidias was made overseer of all 
the public works, which then was a very important office, because 
all the temples and buildings were restored which had been destroyed 
by the Persians. Many of these great works were done by other 
celebrated architects and sculptors under the direction of Phidias, but 
he himself made the very remarkable statue of Athena, or Minerva, 
which was placed in the larger chamber of the temple of that goddess, 
called the Parthenon. 

This statue was of the kind of work which is called chryselephantine, 
said to have been invented by Phidias. Its foundation was of wood, 
which was covered with ivory and gold ; the ivory was used for 
the flesh parts of the statue, and the gold for the draperies and 
ornaments. 

Athena, or Minerva, was the goddess of wisdom and of war. and 
this statue represented her as victorious. It was nearly forty feet 
high, including the base ; the different parts were very much orna- 
mented ; the crest of the helmet v r as formed like a sphinx, and had 
griffins on each side ; the coat of mail, or upper garment, was fringed 
with golden serpents, and had a golden head of Medusa in the cen- 
tre ; the lower end of the spear rested on a dragon ; the shield 
was embossed on both sides with representations of Athenian legends. 
and even the base upon which the statue stood was wrought in relief. 
with many gods and goddesses and other figures upon it. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 11 

Phidias wished to put his name on his work, but not being allowed 
to do so, he accomplished his purpose by making his own portrait 
in one of the figures upon the shield. 

Many other works by Phidias were in and upon the Parthenon ; 
some of these are now in the British Museum in London, and are 
known as the Elgin marbles, from the fact that they were carried 
to England by the Earl of Elgin. 




THE MOST ANCIENT FORM OF GREEK CHARIOT. (FROM AN ANTIQUE SCULPTURE.) 

After the completion of the Minerva, Phidias went to Elis, where 
he made the wonderful statue of the Olympian Jupiter for the great 
temple of that god in the Altis, or sacred grove, at Olympia. This 
represented the god as seated on a throne, holding in his right hand 
a statue of victory, and supporting a sceptre, surmounted with an 
eagle, with his left hand. A curtain concealed this statue except 
on great festival days, when it was exposed to full view. Tbe dec- 
orations and ornaments upon every part of the figure, and upon the 



12 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

throne, were wonderful in their design and execution ; there were 
hundreds of figures of gods, youths, dancing-girls, and animals, and 
flowers in great abundance. 

When the statue was completed, the sculptor prayed to Jupiter 
for a sign in approbation of his work, and it is said that the pave- 
ment close by was struck hy lightning. As an honor to Phidias, 
his descendants were given the office of caring for this statue and 
cleaning it. A building outside of the Altis. where he had worked, 
was also preserved, and called the work-shop of Phidias. His name 
was inscribed at the feet of this statue. 

Jupiter was the most powerful of all the gods of mythology, and 
Phidias represented him according to a description which Homer had 
written, and which, as translated by Alexander Pope, reads. — 

"He spoke, and awful bends his sable brows, 
Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod, 
The stamp of fate, and sanction of the god ; 
High heaven with trembling the dread signal took. 
And all Olympus to the centre shook. - ' 

Among the pupils of Phidias was Alcamenes, a distinguished 
sculptor. It is said that he contended with Phidias in making a 
statue of Minerva to be placed on a very high column at Athens. 
When the two works were completed and exhibited, that of the 
pupil received the greater praise, because it was highly finished, while 
that of the master seemed coarse and rough. But Phidias demanded 
that they should be raised to the intended height, when it was 
found that the statue of Alcamenes lost its effect, and that of Phidias 
proved all that could be desired. 

Alcamenes, like Phidias, was a sculptor of the gods; and it is 
thought that a statue of Juno, which was found in a temple between 
Athens and Phaleros, was his work. The head of Juno which we 
give is probably a part of the statue found in this temple. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 13 

When Phidias returned from Elis to Athens, he found that his 
friend and master Pericles had fallen into bad repute through the 
jealousy of his enemies. This jealousy was extended to Phidias, and 
he was accused of having stolen a part of the gold which had been 
furnished him for making the statue of Minerva. As the plates of 
gold were so arranged that they could be removed from the statue, 
they were weighed, and Phidias was cleared from all suspicion of 
dishonesty. His accusers next brought a charge of impiety, because 
he had introduced his own portrait on the shield ; upon this charge 
he was thrown into prison, where he died, some writers say from 
disease, while others declare that he Avas poisoned. His death occurred 
about 432 B. c, and it is not possible to say positively that any work 
executed by the hand of Phidias exists ; but the marbles known as 
the "Elgin marbles," in the British Museum, are certainly works exe- 
cuted under his eye, if not by his hand, and some authorities do not 
hesitate to consider them his work. These marbles consist of single 
figures and groups which formed portions of the outside decorations 
of the Parthenon, of which temple Phidias was the chief architect, 
and all its ornaments were subject to his approval. These sculptures 
may be considered as equal, or indeed superior, to any now existing, 
and they belong to the time when sculpture had reached its very 
highest point. 

MYRON. 

This sculptor was born at Eleutherae, about 430 B.C., but is 
spoken of as an Athenian because his native city belonged to the 
Athenian franchise or district, and because his most celebrated work 
— the statue of a cow — stood in the midst of the largest open space 
in Athens, and his fame was thus connected with that city. This 
cow was represented as in the act of lowing, and was elevated upon a 



14 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

marble base. It is praised by many writers, no less than thirty-six 
epigrams having been written upon it. which have all been collected b}' 
Sontag, and are in the •' Unterhaltungen fur Freunde der alten Liter- 
atur," or "Entertainments for the Friends of Ancient Literature" 
In later times the cow was removed to Rome, and placed in the 
Temple of Peace. 

The second most famous work of Myron was the " Discobolus," 
or the disk or quoit thrower. The original statue exists no longer, but 
there are several copies of it, one of which was found on the Esquiline 
Hill at Rome in a. d. 17S2, and was placed in the Villa Massini. 

This statue shows forth the sculptor's most striking characteristic, 
which was to represent figures in excited action, at the very moment 
of some great effort of strength or skill. This is a very difficult thing 
to do, since no model can constantly repeat such acts ; and if that 
were possible, there is but a flash of time in which the artist can 
see what he is trying to reproduce. And yet this figure is so life- 
like that it seems, when one looks at it. as if it would be safer to 
stand so that the quoit shall not hit him as it flies. Besides the 
Discobolus, there are several other works attributed to Myron; they 
are, — a copy in marble of his statue of Marsyas, in the Lateran 
at Rome; a torso, restored as a son of Niobe, in the gallery at Flor- 
ence ; the torso of an Endymion, in the same gallery ; a figure 
restored and called Diomed ; and a bronze in the gallery at Munich. 



CALLIMACHUS. 

There are many of the ancient artists of whom very little is 
known, but that little is so interesting that in the ease of some it is 
well worth the telling. Such a one is Callimachns. who is said to have 
invented the Corinthian capital, which is so beautiful in architecture. 
The time when Callimachns lived cannot be °;iven more nearly than bv 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 15 

saying that it must have been between 550 and 396 B. c. The story 
runs that a young girl died at Corinth, and her nurse, following the 
usual custom, placed on her grave a basket which contained the food 
that the girl had liked best. It happened that the basket was placed 
upon an acanthus, and the leaves of the plant grew up around the 
basket, and were so graceful, thus holding it in their midst, that 
Callimachus, who saw it, used it as a design for the capitals of 
pillars ; and the name of Corinthian was given to it. 

It is also said, by some ancient writers, that Callimachus invented 
a lamp which would burn a year without going out ; and that such 
an one, made of gold by him, was used in the temple of Minerva 
at Athens. 

ALCAMENES. 

This favorite pupil of the great Phidias has been mentioned already 
in the account of that master. The most celebrated work by Alca- 
menes was a statue of Venus. Most of his figures represented the 
gods, among them being one of Hephgestus, or Vulcan, in which the 
lameness of that god was managed so skilfully that no deformity 
appeared. 

Concerning the "Venus Aphrodite," as the famous statue is called, it 
is related that Agoracritus — also a pupil of Phidias, and a celebrated 
artist — contended with Alcamenes in making a figure of that goddess ; 
and when the Athenians gave the preference to that of Alcamenes, 
Agoracritus, through indignation and disappointment, changed his 
figure, which represented the goddess of Love, into a Nemesis, or 
the goddess who sent suffering to those that were blessed with too 
many gifts. He then sold the statue to the people of Rhamnus, 
who had a temple dedicated to Nemesis, and made a condition that 
it never should be set up in Athens. 



16 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

There is a difference of opinion as to the merits of Alcamenes and 
of Agoracritus ; some writers say, Phidias so loved the last that he 
even put the name of Agoracritus upon some of his own works. But 
the ancient writers generally consider Alcamenes as second only t" 
Phidias, and the most famous of all that master's pupils. 



PRAXITELES. 

Tins sculptor stood at the head of a school of Grecian art. which 
differed from that of Phidias by representing youth, beauty, and 
more generally pleasing subjects, while the older artists represented 
grandeur and solemn dignity. Praxiteles was burn at Athens about 
392 B.C. He is supposed to be the son of Cephisdotus, who is also 
thought to be the son of Alcamenes, — thus making Praxiteles the 
grandson of the latter. He chose fur his subjects the soft and deli- 
cate forms of Venus, Cupid, the young Bacchus, youthful satyrs, ami 
so on. His most famous work was the " Cnidian Venus." The 
story is that Praxiteles made two statues of the beautiful godd 
one being nude and the other draped: the people of Cos chose the 
latter, and the Cnidians bought the nude figure. They erected for 
it an open temple, so that the goddess could be seen from all sides. 
Many people went to Cnidos for the sole purpose of seeing this 
statue, and felt that they were repaid for their trouble; while the 
Cnidians themselves so valued it. that when their oppressor. King 
Nicomedus of Bithynia, offered to release them from a debl of one 
hundred talents (about a hundred thousand dollars) if they would 
give the Venus to him, they refused, and declared that it was the 
chief glory of their State. 

It is also related that Praxiteles had promised to give his friend 
Phryne whatever statue she should choose from his work-shop. She 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 17 

wished to select the one which the artist himself considered the best ; 
and in order to ascertain which was his favorite, she sent a servant 
to tell him that his work-shop was on fire. He exclaimed, " All is 
lost if my Satyr and Cupid are not saved ! " Then Phryne told him 
of her deceit, and chose the Cupid as her gift. 

There is a Cupid in the Vatican Museum at Rome which is said 
to be a copy of that chosen by Phryne, but no one knows exactty 
whether this is true or not; it is, however, very graceful and beau- 
tiful, and the face has a sweet dreamy expression. 



VENUS DEI MEDICI. 

There are many works of art of so much importance that although 
little is known of them, all the world is interested to see them and 
to know whatever it is possible to learn about them. The Venus 
dei Medici is one of these, and I place it here immediately after the 
account of Praxiteles because many art critics believe that it is a 
copy of the famous Cnidian Venus. The statue was made by Cleome- 
nes, who lived, as nearly as can be told, between 363 and 146 b. c. He 
was an Athenian. There have been many copies of this statue found 
in different places, which proves that it was held in great esteem in 
ancient times ; that by Cleomenes is now the glor} r of the tribune 
of the Uffizi Gallery at Florence ; it was dug up in the seventeenth 
century at Rome. There is a question as to the exact spot where it 
was found, but the Portico of Octavia is generally believed to have 
been the place. Cosmo III. removed it to Florence in 1680, and it 
is called the Venus dei Medici on account of its having rested in the 
Medici Palace at Rome, from the time when it was found until it 
was taken to Florence. 

As Venus was the goddess of Love and of Beauty, it was natural 



18 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

that many sculptors should make representations <>i' her. and there 
are several very famous ones still existing in different museums. 
One in the gallery of the Louvre is called the "Venus of Milo," or 
Melos. from the place where it was found. It is so beautiful thai 
many people prefer it before all others, and some critics believe it 
to be a copy of a work by Alcamenes. You will sec a picture of it 
on page 23. Another Venus, in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, 
is called the -'Venus of the Capitol," and is much praised: it was 
found among some ruins on the Quirinal Hill. The •■ Venus Calli- 
piga," which was found in the ••golden house of Nero," and is now 
in the museum at Naples, is the last one I shall name, although 
there are others worthy of admiration. 



THE NIOBE GROUP. 

Tins is the grandest and largest group of Greek statuary of which 
Ave have any knowledge or possess any copy. We do not know by 
whom it was made, hut its fame rests between Praxiteles and Scopas: 
no one can decide between these two sculptors. Scopas was born 
on the Island of Faros, which was under the rule of Athens, about 
420 B.C. He was a very great artist, and many accounts of his works 
have come down to us; hut of the Niobe group we know nothing 
positively until the time of Sosius, who was appointed governor of 
Syria and Cilicia by Mark Antony, in the year 38 B.C. This Sosius 
built a temple in his own honor at Rome, and called it the temple 
of Apollo Sosianus; he brought many beautiful work- of ail from 
the East to adorn this temple, and among them the Niobe group. 
It remained in its place at Rome about a century, and what became 
of it is unknown. In the year a. d. L583, there was found, near 
the church of St. John Lateran, in Rome, a copy of this group; it 




Ml 



Gallery ft T "puORerTE 



:.* ; - 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



21 



was purchased by the Grand Duke of Tuscany and placed in the 
Villa Medici; in 1775 it was taken to Florence and placed in the 
Uffizi, in an apartment prepared especially for it ; all the figures 
were restored, and each one was set up on a separate pedestal. This 
work was not completed until 1794. 

There are but thirteen figures. Some must be missing, as sixteen 
are required to illustrate its 
sad story, which is as follows : 
Niobe was the daughter of Tan- 
talus, and was born on Mount 
Sipylos. As a child, Niobe was 
a playmate of the great god- 
dess Leto, or Latona ; later she 
married Amphion, while Leto 
was the wife of the great god 
Jupiter. 

Niobe had a very happy life, 
and was the mother of seven 
sons and seven daughters. This 
prosperity made her forget that 
she was only a mortal, and she 
became proud and insolent, even 
to the gods themselves. 

Leto had but two children, 
— Apollo, the god of the silver 

bow ; and Artemis, or Diana, who was the archer-queen of Heaven. 
Amphion was the king and Niobe the queen of Thebes ; so when the 
worship of Leto was established in that city, Niobe, who remembered 
the goddess as her playmate, was very angry that such honor should be 
paid her, and she drove to the temple in her chariot and commanded 
the Theban women to refuse this worship. She also held herself up 




22 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

before them as superior tu Leto, and said that the goddess had only 
two children, while she. their queen, had fourteen lovely suns and 
daughters, any one of whom was worthy of honor. The goddess Leto 
was so enraged by this, that she begged of Apollo and Artemis to take 
revenge on Niobe. Then they descended, and in one day all the chil- 
dren of Niobe were slain, — the sons by Apollo, and the daughters by 
Artemis. 

Niobe, thus left alone, could only weep, until at last Jupiter taking 
pity on her turned her into stone, and whirled her away from Thebes 
to Mount Sip3 7 los, the scene of her childhood. This myth seems to he 
intended to teach that pride and insolence will meet with punishment. 
The picture on page 21 shows Niobe still defiant, although her sons 
are lying slain about her feet. The full-page picture just before rep- 
resents the dreadful moment when Niobe sees the last of her children 
falling around her, and is trying to protect her youngest from the 
arrows of the sure-aiming gods. 

Several different statues which exist in other cities and galleries 
have been thought to he the figures missing from the group in Florence ; 
however, nothing has been fixed upon concerning them, and there is 
enough there to make it the most important group of ancient statues 
now remaining. 



THE TOME OF MAUSOLUS. 

The ancient historians tell lis of the "Seven Wonders of the World." 
and name them as the Pyramids of Egypt, the Hanging-Gardens of 
Semiramis at Babylon, the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, the Statue of 
Jupiter by Phidias, the Tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus, the Colossus 
at Rhodes, and the Pharos, or Light-house of Alexandria. Of these 
seven wonders of ancient times, one, the statue of Jupiter, was the 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



product of sculpture alone, while all the others were the result of a 
combination of architecture as a fine art and architecture as a useful 
art, with the arts of ornament and what may be termed scientific art ; 
thus they all come within the 
scope of stories of art and art- 
ists. The works of Phidias have 
already been spoken of ; we will 
now describe the tomb of Mau- 
solus. He was the king of Caria, 
of which country Halicarnassus 
was the chief city and the 
place where the tomb was built. 
He died about 353 b. c, and 
his wife Artemisia, who had 
no children, was overcome with 
grief at his death. The body 
was burned, according to cus- 
tom. Artemisia gradually fa- 
ded away from the effects of 
her sorrow ; and she lived only 
two years longer than Mau- 
solus. 

Meantime, she had begun 
the erection of the Mausoleum ; 
and although she died before 
its completion, the artists con- 
tinued faithfully to execute her 
commands, and to vie with each other in the excellence of their work, 
for the sake of their own fame. 

There were five artists ena-as-ed in the ornamentation of the Mauso- 
leum, — Bryaxis, who executed the reliefs upon the north face ; Timo- 




THE VENUS OF MILO. 



^4 STORIES OF ART AM) ARTISTS. 

theus those of the south; Leochares the west, and Scopas the easi ; 
while Pythis was allotted the quadriga, or four-horse chariot which 
crowned the whole. The tomb was erected upon ground that was 
higher than the city, and overlooked the entrance to the harbor. 
Writers of the twelfth century praised its beauty, hut in a.d. 14<i2. 
when the Knights of St. John took possession of the place, the monu- 
ment no longer remained, and a castle was built upon its site The 
tomb had been buried, probably by an earthquake. The name of 
Budrum was then given to the place. In a.d. 1">22, some pieces of 
sculpture were found there; but it was not until much later that "Mr. 
Newton, an Englishman, discovered to what great monument these re- 
mains had belonged. A large collection of statues, reliefs, parts of 
animals, and other objects was brought to London and placed in the 
British Museum, and called the Halicarnassus sculptures. 

The whole height of the Mausoleum was one hundred and forty 
feet ; the north and south sides w T ere sixty-three feet long, and 
the others a little less; the burial vault was at the base, and the 
whole structure w r as a mass of magnificent design and execution. It 
is said that the figure of Mausolus was in the quadriga, above all. and 
so placed that it could be seen from a great distance by land or sea. 
It was a work worthy to be called a wonder in its day, and from it we 
still take our word "mausoleum." which we apply to all burial-places 
worthy of so distinguished a name. 



THE COLOSSUS AT RHODES. 

Tite art of the island of Bhodcs was second only to that of At liens. 
This island is but forty-five miles long and twenty miles wide at its 
broadest part, and yet its works of art were so numerous as to make 
their number seem like a fable. In the city of Rhodes alone there were 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 25 

three thousand statues, and many paintings and other beautiful, objects. 
It was here that Chares, of Lindos, another city of the Island, erected 
his famous Colossus, or statue of the sun. One hundred statues of the 
sun ornamented the city of Rhodes, and Pliny says that any one of 
them was beautiful enough to have been famous ; but this one by 
Chares was so remarkable as to eclipse all the others. 

The erection of this statue occupied twelve years, from 292 to 280 
B.C., and it cost three hundred talents, or about three hundred thou- 
sand dollars of our money. It stood near the entrance to the harbor 
of the city, but we have no reason to believe the oft-repeated story 
that it was placed with its legs extended over the mouth of the port, 
so that ships sailed between them. Yet its magnitude is almost be- 
yond imagining, for a man of ordinary size could not reach around 
one of its thumbs with his arms, and its fingers were larger than most 
statues, while its whole height was one hundred and five feet. 

The men of Rhodes obtained the money for the Colossus by selling 
the engines of war which had been abandoned to them by Demetrius 
Poliorcetes, when he laid siege to their city in vain, in 303 B. c. 

In the year 224 B.C., fifty-six years after its completion, an earth- 
quake overthrew the Colossus, and the Rhodians were forbidden, by an 
oracle, to restore it. Its fragments remained scattered upon the ground 
nine hundred and twenty-three years, until A d. 672, when they were 
sold to a Jew of Emesa, by the command of the Caliph, Othman IV. It 
is said that nine hundred camels were required to carry them off, and 
they were estimated to weigh seven hundred thousand pounds. 

There are coins of Rhodes bearing a face which is supposed with 
good reason to be that of this Colossus. 

When we consider what carefulness was necessary to cast this 
enormous figure in bronze in separate pieces, to adjust them to 
each other, and in any sense satisfy the standard of art that existed in 
Rhodes when it was made, we are quite ready to allow that Chares of 



26 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Lindos was a worthy pupil of his groat master Lysippus, and that his 
Colossus merited a place among the " Seven Wonders." 

There were colossal statues in Egypt, the remains of which may still 
be seen, which were much older than the Colossus of Rhodes, ami more 
remarkable, on account of their having been made of single stones and 
moved from the places where they were quarried to those upon which 
they were erected. 

The largest one is that near the Memnonium, at Western Thebes. 
It was sixty feet high, twenty -two feet across the shoulders, ami one 
toe is three feet long. This statue is estimated to have weighed eight 
hundred and eighty-seven tons, and was moved one hundred and thirty- 
eight miles. 

The two famous colossi — of which one was called "The Singing 
Memnon," and was believed to hail the rising sun with musical sounds 
— are on the plain of Quorneh. These were each made from one block, 
and were forty-seven feet high, each foot being ten and two-thirds feet 
long; they are in a sitting posture. These last statues were erected 
about 1330 B.C., and the one at Western Thebes about two hundred 
and seventy years earlier. 

THE TEMPLE OF DIANA AT EPHESUS. 

With a short account of this wonderful temple I shall leave the 
"Seven Wonders;" for the Great Pyramid, the gardens of Semiramis, 
and the Pharos of Alexandria do not come so strictly within our subject 
as do those of which we have spoken. A temple existed at Ephesus 
before the building of that which we describe. It had also been dedi- 
cated to Diana or Artemis, who was the same goddess who aided her 
brother to slay the children of Niobe. The first temple was 1 mined, and 
some writers say that the fire occurred on the night in which Alexander 
the Great was born, which was in the autumn of the year 356 B.C. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 27 

The second temple was four hundred and twenty-five feet long by 
two hundred and twenty feet wide, and was ornamented with one hun- 
dred and twenty-seven columns, each of which was the gift of a king, 
according to the account of Pliny. These columns were very large, 
and made of beautiful marbles, jasper, and other fine stones. Some of 
them were carved in elegant designs, one being the work of Scopas, 
who is believed to have made the Niobe group. It required two 
hundred and twenty years to complete this temple, and the necessary 
money was so difficult for the people to obtain, that even the orna- 
ments of the women were given to be melted down in order to add 
to the fund ; and yet when Alexander offered to pay for the temple 
if his name should be inscribed upon it, they refused his aid. 

When the edifice was completed, many works by the best artists 
were placed therein. The Ephesian artists were proud to do all they 
could for its adornment, without other reward than the honor of see- 
ing their works in so grand and sacred a place, while the works of 
other artists were bought in great numbers. The great altar was filled 
with the sculptures of Praxiteles ; a very celebrated painting by Apelles, 
called the "Alexander Ceraunophorus," was there, and it is probable 
that many other artists of whom we have heard were employed in 
its decoration. 

This great temple was plundered by the Emperor Nero ; the Goths 
carried the work of its destruction still further in 260 a.d. ; and 
finally, under the Emperor Theodosius, a.d. 381, when all pagan 
worship was suppressed, this temple was destroyed, and now almost 
nothing remains at Ephesus to remind one of its past grandeur. It is 
probable that the materials which composed the temple, as well as 
those of other noble buildings there, have been carried to Constanti- 
nople and other cities, and much may still be hidden beneath the soil ; 
but it is the saddest place, and has the least to repay one who visits 
it, of all the ruined cities which I have seen. 



28 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



THE LAOCOON GROUP. 

Tins famous piece of statuary, now in the Vatican Museum at Rome, 
is not very old in comparison with many of the works we have described, 
its probable date being the time of the Emperor Titus, who lived from 
a.d. 40 to 81. He was a liberal patron of art. and it is believed that 







H^v 




THK I.AOCOON GliOL'P. 



Agesander, Polydorus, and Athcnodorus, sculptors of Rhodes, executed 
this work at the command of Titus, in whose palace it was placed. 

In 1506 the Laocoon was found in the excavation of the baths of 
Titus, and was placed in the Vatican by Pope Julius II. An arm 
which was wanting was restored by an Italian sculptor named Baccio 
Bandinelli. Napoleon Bonaparte carried it to Paris, but in 1815 the 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 29 

group was returned to Kome, together with other art treasures 
which he had borne away. 

This work illustrates the story of Laocoon, who was a priest 
of Troy. When the Greeks left the wooden horse outside that city 
and pretended to sail away, Laocoon warned the Trojans of the 
clanger of drawing it within the walls, and as he spoke he thrust 
a lance into the side of the horse. But Sinon, who had been left 
behind by the Greeks, contrived to persuade the Trojans that the 
horse would be a blessing to them; and it was drawn into the city, 
where feasts and sacrifices were ordered to do honor to the occasion. 
Laocoon was preparing a sacrifice to Neptune, when two huge ser- 
pents were seen coming from Tenedos. All the people fled, — only 
the priest and his two sons remained by the altar; and to them 
the fearful creatures went, soon killing all three by their horrible 
entwinings. When Laocoon and his sons were really dead, the ser- 
pents went to the Acropolis and disappeared behind the shield of 
Tritonis. This story has been told by several poets, and in Virgil's 
iEneid is read by many boys and girls. 

The famous group of the Vatican shows the moment when the 
serpents are entwined about all three figures, and represents the most 
intense suffering of mind and body. 

THE FARNESE BULL. 

This is another celebrated group, believed to belong to the first 
century of our era. It was the work of two brothers, Apollonius 
and Tauriscus of Rhodes, and was carried from Rhodes to Rome 
by Asinius Pollio, and placed in the baths of Caracalla. After being 
covered up in the ruins of these baths for many years, it was found 
in the sixteenth century, and is now in the Museum of Naples. 

This group tells a part of the story of Dirce, who had incurred 



30 



STORIES OF AIM' AM) ARTISTS. 



the displeasure of Antiope, the mother of Amphion, the king of 

Thebes and the husband of 
Niobe. 

Then Amphion and Ins twin 
brother Zethus, in order to sat- 
isfy the wrath of their mother, 
bound Dirce to the horns of a 
wild bull, who dragged her to 
death. It is said that Dionysos 
changed her body into a well 
on Mt. Cithaeron. A small river 
near Thebes was also called by 
her name. 

The moment represented in 
the sculpture is that when Dirce 
is struggling to free herself from Amphion and Zethus, who are 
fastening; the cords to the horns of the savage animal. 




THE FARNESE HULL. 



THE BRONZE HOKSES OE VENICE. 

High up above the central portal of the Cathedral of St. Mark 
in Venice, there are two bronze horses at each side of the arch. 
They are large, and weigh 1932 pounds each. It is wonderful to 
think how they have been carried over the world, now raised to 
great heights, and again lowered and carried great distances. When 
we consider the difficulties of thus moving them by land and sea. 
we understand how valuable they must have been considered. The 
positive truth concerning their origin is not known. Some critics 
believe them to be of the Greek school of Lysippus; but the general 
belief is that the Emperor Augustus carried them from Alexandria 
to Rome after his victory over .Mark Antony, about .'ill B.C. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



31 



Augustus placed them on a triumphal arch, and the emperors 
Nero, Domitian, Trajan, and Constantine, each in turn, removed 
them to arches of their own. At length Constantine carried them 
to Constantinople, his new capital, and placed them in the Hippo- 




THE BRONZE HORSES OF VENICE (SHOWING THE TOP OP THE ARCH ABOVE THE 
PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE TO THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. MARK.) 



drome ; from there they were brought to Venice by the Crusaders in 
1205. In 1797 Napoleon Bonaparte carried them to Paris, and in 
1815 they were returned to Venice, where they now stand, - — 

" Their silcled collars slitterine in the sun." 



32 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



THE DIOSCURI ON MONTE CAVALLO, AT ROME. 

These two figures on horses arc believed to represent the twin 
brothers Castor and Pollux, and are said to be the united work of 
the two groat sculptors Phidias and Praxiteles. They arc colossal 
in size and spirited in execution. The Monte Cavallo is so named 
on account of these statues, which were excavated in the baths of 
Constantine. It is a portion of the Quirinal Hill, and is beside the 
Quirinal Palace, which is now the Roman residence of the King 
of Italy. 

Castor and Pollux were famous for their brotherly love ; and their 
legend relates that, as a reward for their affection, Jupiter placed 
them together among the stars after their death, where they are 
called Gemini, the Twins. They were worshipped in Greece, and at 
Rome there was a temple erected to them, opposite the temple of 
Vesta, in the Forum, and on the 15th of July the equites (or soldiers 
on horses) went there in solemn procession to perform their rites 
in honor of the Dioscuri. 

NOTE. 

Ancient Sculptures now existing. 

Copy of the head of Asolepius after Alcamcncs : in the British Museum. 

Copies after those of Praxiteles. 

Venus: as seen on the Cnidian coins. 

Venus : the finest copy in marble is in the Glyptothek, Munich. 

Cupid : National Museum at Naples. 

Cupid : Vatican Museum, Rome. 

Satyr: Capitol, Rome. 

Apollo with the Lizard : Louvre, Paris. 

The Dioscuri on Monte Cavallo : Rome; said to he the joint work of Phidias ami 

Praxiteles. 
The Niobe Group : Uffizzi, Florence; copy after Scopas. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



33 




FIGURES FROM THE PEDIMENT OF THE TEMPLE OF MINERVA AT EGINA. 



Before leaving the subject of ancient sculpture, I wish to speak 
of some other beautiful works which are still preserved, and which 
the illustrations here given will help you to understand. The first is 
from the frieze of the temple of Minerva, or Pallas, at Egina. This 
word was formerly spelled iEgina, and is the name of an island 
in the Gulf of Egina, near the southwest coast of Greece. Its 
chief city was also called Egina, and here a beautiful Doric temple 
was built about 475 B.C., which was the period of the greatest 
prosperity and importance of the island. 

Many of the columns of this temple are still standing, but 
large parts of it have fallen down ; in 1811 these ruins were exam- 
ined, and some fine pieces of sculptured marble were obtained, which 
are the most remarkable works still existing from so early a period. 
Thorwaldsen, the Danish sculptor, restored these marbles, and the 
King of Bavaria purchased them ; they are now in the Glyptothek, 
or Museum of Sculpture, at Munich. 

The two figures given above formed a part of what is called 
the western pediment of the temple ; this pediment contained a 
group of eleven figures, almost life-size, and represented in spirited 
action. I ought to tell you that a pediment is the triangular 

3 



34 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

space which is formed by the slanting of the two sides of the roof 
up to the ridge-piece at the ends of buildings, and in the Greek 
temples the pediment was usually much ornamented, giving a line 
opportunity for large groups. 

The figures in the centre were the most important actors in 
the scene or story represented by the sculptures, and were of full 
size, usually standing; then, as the space on each side became nar- 
rower, the figures were arranged in positions to suit it. and the 
whole composition was so fitted into the slant as to produce a 
regular and symmetrical outline. Thus the whole effect when com- 
pleted was grand and imposing, as well as very ornamental to the 
building. 

The figures in this western pediment of the temple at Egina 
illustrated an episode in the story of the Trojan War ; it was the 
struggle of Ajax, Ulysses, and other Greeks with the Trojan warri- 
ors, over the dead body of Achilles. The Greeks ardently desired 
to possess themselves of the body of their brave leader, in order to 
give it a fitting burial, and they finally succeeded in bearing it 
off to their own camp. 

The myth relates that the god Apollo guided the arrow of 
Paris, which slew Achilles, who could only be wounded in his 
heel, — because when his mother, the goddess Thetis, dipped him 
in the river Styx to make him invulnerable, or safe from being hurt 
by weapons, she held him by the heel ; and as this was the only 
part of his body not wetted, it was only in this that he could he 
wounded. 

It is believed that the warrior in this picture who is about to 
send his arrow is Paris; he wears the curved Phrygian helmet and 
a close-fitting suit of mail. In the whole group there is but one 
other clothed warrior ; all the rest are nude. The highest part 
of this pediment has the figure of the goddess Minerva, or Pallas, 



.STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 35 

standing beside the fallen body of Achilles, which she attempts to 
cover with her shield, while a Trojan warrior tries to draw the 
body away from the Greek who opposes him. The two figures in our 
plate are placed at one side, where the space in the triangle is grow- 
ing narrow. You can imagine what spirit there must be in the 
whole group, when there is so much in these two comparatively small 
figures. How sure we are that the arrow will shoot out with deadly 
power ; and how the second warrior is bracing himself on his feet 
and knee, and leaning forward, in order to thrust his lance with all 
possible force ! 

These Eginetan statues have traces of color and of metal orna- 
ments about them. The hair, eyes, and lips were colored, and all 
the weapons, helmets, shields, and quivers were red or blue, and some 
portions of the garments of the goddess show that the statue must 
have had bronze ornaments. We know nothing of the artists who 
made these sculptures, but critics and scholars think that the works 
resemble the written descriptions of the statues made by Callon, 
who was a famous sculptor of Egina, and probably lived about the 
time in which the temple was built. 

The next four illustrations are from the sculptures of the Par- 
thenon, the beautiful temple at Athens, of which we have already 
spoken. This temple was completed in 437 B.C., a little later than 
that at Egina. The Parthenon passed through many changes before 
it was reduced to its present condition of ruin. Probably about the 
sixth century of our era it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and 
used as a Christian church, until, in 1456 a.d., the Turks transformed 
it into a Mahometan mosque. In 1687 the Venetians besieged Athens ; 
the Turks had stored gunpowder in the eastern chamber of the Par- 
thenon, and a bomb thrown by the Venetians fell through the roof, 
setting fire to the powder, which exploded, and completely destroyed 
the centre of the temple. Then Morosini, the commander of the 



36 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Venetians, attempted to carry off some of the finest sculptures of 
the western pediment ; but in lowering them to the ground the unskil- 
ful Venetians allowed them to fall, and thus they were broken in 
pieces. 

Early in the present century Lord Elgin carried many of the 
Parthenon marbles to England, and in L816 they all were boughl by 
the British Museum. Finally, in 1827, during the rebellion of the 
Greeks against the Turks. Athens was again bombarded and the 
Parthenon still further destroyed, so that those who now visit it 
can only — 

"Go forth and wander through the cold remains 
Of fallen statues and of tottering fanes, 
Seek the loved haunts of poet and of sage, 
The gay palaestra and the gaudy stage ! 
What signs are there ? A solitary stone, 
A shattered capital, with grass o'ergrown, 
A mouldering frieze, half hid in ancient dust, 
A thistle springing o'er a nameless bust. 
Yet this was Athens ! Still a holy spell 
Breathes in the dome and wanders in the dell, 
And vanished times and wondrous forms appear, 
And sudden echoes charm the waking ear ; 
Decay itself is drest in glory's gloom, 
For every hillock is a hero's tomb, 
And every breeze to Fancy's slumber brings 
The mighty rushing of a spirit's wings." 

The British Museum now contains very nearly all that are left 
of the sculptures of the two pediments of this magnificent temple. 
The torso 1 which is pictured on the next page is believed to be that 
of a statue of Theseus. 

This figure made a part of the group of the front or eastern pedi- 
ment of the temple, in which the story of the birth of Minerva was rep- 
resented. This goddess is said to have sprung forth, all armed, from 
1 "Torso" is a term used in sculpture to denote a mutilated figure. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



37 



the head of Zeus, or Jupiter; and it is fitting that Theseus should 
be represented as present on the occasion, since he was the greatest 
hero, and the king of Athens, of which city Minerva was the pro- 




YOUTHS PREPARING TO JOIN THE CAVALCADE. (FROM THE FRIEZE OF THF, PARTHENON.) 

tecting goddess. All the sculptures of the Parthenon, as you will 
remember, are attributed to the great sculptor Phidias and his school, 
and are very beautiful. 

Next come three illustrations from the frieze of the Parthenon. 
Perhaps you know that a frieze 
is a band extending below a 
cornice, which runs around the 
outside of a building or the in- 
side of an apartment. The cor- 
nice is placed high up where 
the roof joins the sides of a 
building, or where the ceiling 
joins the walls of a room ; the 
frieze is just below, and may be 
very narrow or broad, as the 

proportions of the object it ornaments require. The sculptured frieze 
of the Parthenon was outside the walls of the temple or the cella, 




TORSO OF A STATUE OF THESEUS. 



38 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



as it is called in architecture, and was about five hundred and twenty- 
two feet long, and three feet and four inches broad. About four 
hundred feet of this are still preserved, so that a good idea of it can 

be funned. The portions of this frieze which were carried to Eng- 
land were taken down in slabs. The subject represented is the chief 
procession of the Panathensea, which was the most important of all 
the festivals celebrated at Athens. 

The festival continued several days, which were passed in horse- 
racing, cock-fighting, gymnastic and musical contests, and a great 




MAIDENS AND MUSICIANS. (FROM THE FRIEZE OF TIIE PARTHENON.) 



variety of games; poets also recited their rhapsodies, and philoso- 
phers disputed over their doctrines in public places. lint its chief 
purpose was to carry in procession, up to the Parthenon, the garment 
woven and embroidered for the great goddess by the maidens of 
the city. 

This garment was called a p&plos, and was made of a crocus- 
colored stuff, on which were embroidered the figures of the gods 
engaged in their conquests of the giants. In later days, when the 
Athenians wished to flatter a man. they sometimes had his likeness 
embroidered on the peplos, in the company of the gods ; but this 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



39 



never occurred while the people were yet uncorrupted by wealthy 
rulers. 

The procession which attended the presentation of the peplos at 
the temple was as splendid as all the wealth, nobility, youth, and 
beauty of Athens could make it; a vast multitude attended it, some 
in chariots, others on horses, and large numbers on foot. The noblest 
maidens bore baskets and vases containing offerings for the goddess; 
aged men carried olive-branches ; while the young men, in full armor, 
appeared as if ready to do battle for Minerva. The peplos was not 
borne by hands, but was suspended from the mast of a ship which 




YOUTHS OX HORSEBACK. (FROM THE FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON.) 

was moved along on the land, some writers say by means of machin- 
ery placed under-ground. When the procession reached the temple, 
the splendid garment was placed upon the statue of the goddess. 

During the festival of the Panathensea prisoners were allowed 
to enjoy freedom ; and such men as merited the gratitude of the 
republic were then rewarded by the gift of gold crowns, their names 
being announced by the heralds during the gymnastic games. We 
do not know exactly the order in which all the ceremonies were 
observed, but it is believed that the procession of the peplos was 
celebrated on the last day of the festival. 



40 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



It is probable that this frieze was executed from a design by 
Phidias. Near the entrance on the east there was an assemblage of 
the gods, in whose presence the peplos was being presented to the 
guardians of the temples; near them were the heralds and officers 
of the procession. Then there were groups of animals for sacrifice, 
and, again, groups of people, — sometimes they were lovely maidens 
bearing their gifts on their shoulders, or musicians playing on the 
flute, as seen in one of these plates; and, finally, the procession 
ended with numbers of youths on horseback, riding gayly along ; 
and in one portion there were others still occupied in bridling their 




BACCHUS PLAYING WITH A LION. (FROM THE MONUMENT OF LY8ICRATES.) 

steeds, mounting and making other preparations to join the caval- 
cade. The wonderful excellence of the design of tins great work is 
a subject of which art-lovers never weary ; and certainly it is most 
remarkable that in this great number of figures no two can be 
said to resemble each other, and that there is such an endless 
variety of positions, and bo much spirited action in it all. The 
whole work bears marks of having been produced in the time when 
sculpture reached its perfection. 

There is at Athens a work of a later period than the Parthe- 
non, and much smaller and less important than a temple, which also 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 41 

is very interesting ; it is the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. It 
is decorated with some very amusing scenes from the life of Bacchus, 
and was erected in the year 334 b. c, when Lysicrates was cJioragus ; 
that is to say, when it was his office to provide the chorus for the 
plays which were represented at Athens. The duties of this office 
were arduous and expensive : he had first to find and bring together 
the members of the chorus ; then to have them instructed in music, 
and to provide proper food for them while they studied. 

The choragus who presented the finest musical entertainment 
received a tripod as his reward ; and it was customary to build 
a monument upon which to place the tripod, as a lasting honor to 
the choragus to whom it had been given. There was in Athens a 
street formed by a line of these monuments, called the " Street of 
the Tripods." It was the custom to dedicate these tripods to some 
divinity ; and that of Lysicrates was devoted to Bacchus. The 
sculptures represent him seated, playing with a lion. 

While the handsome young god thus amuses himself, his com- 
panions the Satyrs are engaged in punishing the Tyrrhenian pirates 
who, according to the myth, attempted to sell Bacchus into slavery. 
In order to revenge himself, he changed their masts and oars into ser- 
pents and himself into a lion ; then music was heard, and ivy grew 
all over the vessel, while the pirates went mad and were changed into 
dolphins. The frieze on the monument shows the Satyrs venting 
their anger on the pirates : some have branches of trees with which 
to beat the unlucky victims ; one pirate is being dragged into the 
sea by one leg ; some of them are already half changed into dol- 
phins, and leap into the water with great readiness. Those with 
heads of dolphins and with human bodies are very queer, and the 
whole design is full of humor and lively action. Bacchus was re- 
garded as the patron of plays and theatres, and indeed the Greek 
drama grew out of the choruses which were sung at his festivals. 



42 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

In comparison with all the works of art which exist in the 
world, the remaining nieces of Greek sculpture are so few that 
those people who love and study them know of nearly every one, and 
almost consider them as they do their friends from whom they are 
separated. One of these famous sculptures is the statue of the 
Apollo Belvedere, which was found about the end of the fifteenth 
century in the ruins of ancient Antium. The Cardinal della Rovere, 
who was afterward Pope Julius II., bought it and placed it in the 
palace of the Belvedere, in Rome. From this fact the statue took 
its present name; the Belvedere was afterward joined to the Vatican, 
in the museum of which palace the Apollo now stands. We do not 
know who made this statue, but its beauty and excellence, and above 
all the intellectual quality of the expression on the god's counte- 
nance, prove that it belonged to a very high age in art, — probably 
to the early imperial period. 

There has been much speculation as to what the god held in 
his left hand ; it was formerly said to have been a bow, but 
more recent discoveries lead to the belief that it was the aegis or 
shield, with the head of Medusa upon it. With this he is discom- 
fiting a host of enemies; for, according to Homer, this aegis was 
sometimes lent to Apollo by Jupiter, and all who gazed on it were 
paralyzed by fear, or turned to stone ; thus he who held it could 
vanquish an army. 

In the story of Apollo it is related, that when the Gauls invaded 
Greece, and threatened to destroy the shrine of Apollo at Delphi. 
the people appealed to the gods ; and when they asked Apollo what 
they should do to save the treasures which had been dedicated to 
him, he replied: '"I myself will take care of them and of the 
temple virgins!" So it happened that while the battle was in 
progress a great storm arose, and the thunder and lightning were 
frightful. — hail and snow being added to all the rest; and in the 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



43 



midst of this war of Nature and of men Apollo was seen to descend to 
his temple, accompanied by the goddesses Diana and Minerva. Then 
the Gauls were seized with such fear that they took to flight, and 
the shrine of the god escaped injury at the hands of its barba- 
rian assailants. 



CIMABUE. 

After the decline of what is termed Ancient Art, — that is to say, 
in the strictest sense, Greek Art, — there was a long period, of the 
individual artists of which we can tell almost nothing. Ancient Kome 
was full of wonderful works of art ; but many of them were brought 
from Greece or other Eastern coun- 
tries ; many more were made by Gre- 
cian artists in Rome, and after the 
time of the Emperor Augustus there 
were many years of which we shall 
not speak. 

Giovanni Cimabue, the artist who 
is honored as the first Italian that 
revived any portion of the old beauty 
of painting, was born in Florence, in 
1240. He was of noble family, and 
his parents allowed him to follow his 
inclination for art, until at last he painted the Madonna of the 
Church of Santa Maria Novella, which has always been, and must 
continue to be, a work of great interest. This was done when the 
artist was thirty years old. 

I fancy that any one who now sees this picture wonders at its 
ugliness, instead of being filled with admiration, as were the Floren- 
tines six hundred and ten years ago. But then Cimabue was watched 




PORTRAIT OF CIMABUE. 



44 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

with intense interest, and all the more because he would allow no our 
to see what he was painting. At length it happened that Charles of 
Anjou passed through Florence on his way to his kingdom of Naples. 
Of course the noble Florentines did all in their power to entertain 
this royal guest, and besides other places he visited the studio of 
Cimabue, who now uncovered his work for the first time. Man}' people 
flocked to see it, and expressed their delight so loudly that the portion 
of the city in which the studio was has ever since been called the Borgo 
Allegri, or " the joyous quarter." 

When the picture was completed, it was borne to the church in a 
grand, solemn procession. The day was a festival; music was played, 
the magistrates of Florence graced the occasion with their presence, 
and the painter must have felt that he was more than repaid for all 
that he had done. 

After this, Cimabue became famous all over Italy. He died about 
1302, and was buried in the church of Santa Maria del Fiore; above 
his tomb were inscribed these words: "Cimabue thought himself master 
of the field of painting. "While living, he was so. Now he holds his 
place among the stars of heaven." 

GIOTTO. 

One of the titles that is given to Cimabue is that of the " Father 
of Painting;" and this can well be said of him when we remember 
that it was Cimabue who found Giotto, and acted the part of a father 
to the boy who was to be such a wonderful painter. The story is that 
when Cimabue was quite old and very famous, he was riding in the 
valley of Vespignano, a few miles from Florence, and saw a shepherd- 
boy, who while his flocks were feeding was making a portrait of one 
of his sheep on a bit of slate with a pointed stone. Cimabue looked 
at the sketch, and found it so good that he offered to take the 




THE MADOSSA OF THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA NOVELLA. 
(PAINTED BY CIMABUE.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 47 

little Giotto — who was only twelve years old — and teach him to 
paint. The boy was very happy, and his father — whose name 
was Bondone — was glad of this good fortune for his son ; so Giotto 
di Bondone lived thenceforth with the noble Cimabue, and was in- 
structed in letters by Brunetto Latini, who was also the teacher of the 
great poet Dante, while his art studies were made under his adopted 
father, Cimabue. 

In the first picture by Giotto of which we have any account he 
introduced the portraits of Dante and his teacher Latini, with several 
others. In later times, when Dante was persecuted by his enemies in 
Florence, this picture was covered with whitewash, and it was only 
restored to the light in 1841, after centuries of concealment. It is a 
precious memento of the youth of two men of great genius, — Dante 
and Giotto. 

Pope Boniface VIII., hearing in Rome of Giotto's paintings, 
sent to invite him to his court. The messenger of the Pope asked 
Giotto to show him something of the art which had made him so 
famous ; and Giotto taking a sheet of paper and a pencil, drew 
quickly with a single motion a circle so perfect that it was considered 
a miracle, ^and gave rise to a proverb, which the Italians still love to 
use : Piu tondo die V di Giotto, — " Rounder than the of Giotto." 
When in Rome the artist executed both mosaics and paintings for 
the Pope ; and by the time that he was thirty years old the dukes, 
princes, and kings, fa^.and near, contended for his time and labors. 

When at Nap'les, in the employ of King Robert, one very hot 
day the King said : " Giotto, if I were you I would leave work 
and rest." 

" So would I, Sire, if I were you," said Giotto. 

When the same King asked him to paint a picture of his kingdom, 
Giotto drew an as^ bearing a saddle, on which were a crown and 
sceptre; on the ground beside the ass was another saddle, with a 



48 



STORIES OF ART AM) ARTISTS. 



very new, bright crown and sceptre, which the ass was eagerly smell- 
ing. This was to signify that the Neapolitans were so fickle that 
they were always searching for a new king. 




giotto's campanile, ok bell-tower, in Florence. 



Giotto was a great architect as well as a great painter, for he it was 
who made all the designs, and even some of the working models for 
the beautiful bell-tower or campanile of Florence, near the cathedral 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 49 

and baptistery. When the Emperor Charles V. saw this tower he 
exclaimed, " It should be kept under glass." A citizen of Verona, 
who was in Florence while this tower of Giotto's was building, 
exclaimed that " the riches of two kingdoms would not suffice for 
such a work." This speech being overheard, he was thrown into 
prison and kept there several weeks, and was not permitted to leave 
the city until he had been taken to the treasury and convinced that 
the Florentines could afford to build a whole city of marble. Giotto 
died in 1336, and was buried in the church of Santa Maria del Fiore 
with great honors, and Lorenzo de' Medici afterward erected a monu- 
ment to him. 



BUFFALMACCO. 

The real name of this painter was Christofano Buonamico. He 
was born in 1262 and died in 1340, and while no one work can be 
pointed out as positively his, he is always remembered on account 
of his love of fun and for his practical jokes. Ghiberti called him 
a good painter, and one able to excel all others when he set about it. 

When he was a student under Andrea Tafi, that master compelled 
all his scholars to rise very early ; this disturbed Buonamico so much 
that he determined to find some means of escaping the hardship. 
As Tafi was very superstitious, Buonamico caught about thirty large 
black beetles, and fastened little tapers to their backs ; these he lighted, 
and then sent the beetles one by one into his master's room, about 
the time when Tafi was in the habit of rising and calling the pupils 
from their sweetest sleep. 

When Tafi saw these creatures moving about in the dark, bearing 
their little lights, he did not dare to get up ; and when daylight came 
he hastened to his priest to ask what could, be the meaning of this 

4 



50 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

strange thing. The priest believed that he had seen demons ; and 
when the master talked with Buft'almacco about it, that rogue con- 
firmed this idea by saying that as painters always made their pic- 
tures of demons so ugly, these fearful creatures were probably angry. 
and he thought it wise to work only by day, when they would not 
dare to come near. In the end, this trick of the young painter was 
so successful that not only Tafi, but all other masters in Florence 
abandoned the custom of working before sunrise. 

Upon one occasion, when Buft'almacco had executed a commission 
to paint a picture of the Virgin with the infant Jesus in her arms, 
his employer failed to pay him his price. The artist sorely needed 
the money, and hit upon a means of getting it. He changed the 
child in the picture to a 3'oung bear. When his patron saw it, he 
was so shocked that he offered to pay the artist immediately if he 
would restore the child to the Virgin's arms. Buft'almacco agreed 
to this, and as soon as he had the money in his hand he washed 
the bear away and left the picture as it had been before ; for in 
painting the bear upon the child's picture he had merely used water- 
colors to serve his joke, and had not injured the picture at all. 

The stories of this sort which Vasari tells of Buffalmacco in his 
"Lives of the Painters" are almost unending, and we feel that this 
merry fellow must have been light-hearted and happy; but, alas! 
his end was sad enough, for when seventy-eight years old he died 
in a public hospital, not having saved enough out of all his earnings 
to buy a crust of bread, nor to pay for a decent burial. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



51 



FEA ANGELICO DA FIESOLE. 

The real name of this wonderful artist was Guido Petri de Mugello. 
He was born at Fiesole, near Florence, in 1387. When but twenty 
years old be became a monk, and entered tbe convent of San Marco 
at Florence, from which place he scarcely went out during seventy 
years. He considered his painting as a service to the Lord, and would 
never make a bargain to paint a 
picture ; he received his orders 
from the prior of his convent, and 
began his work with fasting and 
prayer. He never changed any- 
thing when once painted, because 
he believed that he was guided by 
God in his work. Pope Nicholas 
V. summoned him to Rome to 
paint in the Vatican. It is very 
curious that the key to the chapel 
which Fra Angelico painted was 
lost during two centuries. All 
this time very few people saw his 
beautiful works there, and those 

who entered were obliged to go in by a window. The chief merits in 
the works of Fra Angelico are the sweet and tender expression in the 
faces of his angels and saints, as well as the spirit of purity that seems 
to breathe through every painting which he made. 

While he was at Rome the Pope wished to make him the Arch- 
bishop of Florence ; this honor he would not accept, but after his death 
he was called, and is still known, by the title of II Beato, or "the 
Blessed." Many of his works remain in his own convent at Florence, 




PORTRAIT OF FRA ANGELICO. 



52 



KTOKIKN OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



and I love them most there, where he lived and worked, and where he 
liked best that they should be. 



LEONARDO DA VINCI. 

Tins artist was born in 1452, at the castle of Vinci, in the lower 
Val d' Arno. He grew to be a handsome young fellow, full of spirit 
and fun, and early showed that he had unusual gifts; he was a good 

scholar in mathematics and mechanics, 
wrote poetry and loved music, besides 
wishing to be a painter. 

His master was Andrea del Verocchio, 
an eminent man of his time. Leonardo 
soon surpassed him. however: for while the 
master was painting a picture of the bap- 
tism of Christ the pupil was permitted to 
aid him, and an angel which he painted was 
so beautiful, we are told, that Signor Andrea 
cast aside his pencil forever, " enraged that 
a child should know more than himself." 

Leonardo had a peculiar power of recol- 
lecting any face which he had seen, and 
could paint it after his return In bis studio. 
Once a peasant brought him a piece of 
fig-tree wood, and desired to have a picture 
painted on it. Leonardo determined to 
represent a horror. He collected lizards, 
serpents, and other frightful things, and 
from them made a picture so startling that when his father saw it 
he ran away in a fright. This was sold to a merchant for one hun- 
dred ducats, and later to the Duke of Milan for three times that 




OITI.IM-: COPY OF AX ANGEL 
PAINTED J;Y I'KA AXGELICO. 



<-" -,/'-'*' 




PORTRAIT OP THE POET DANTE. (PAINTED BY GIOTTO.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 55 

sum. It was called the Rotello del Fico, which means " a shield of 
fig-tree wood." 

After a time, Leonardo engaged his services to the Duke of Milan. 
He was the court-painter and superintendent of all the fetes and enter- 
tainments given in that city. Leonardo afterward founded an academy 




PORTRAIT OF LEONARDO DA VINCI. 



of painting there, and was engaged in bringing the waters of the river 
Adda into the city from Mortesana, a distance of more than two hun- 
dred miles. Thus he made himself much fame, while he led a very 
gay life ; for the court of Milan was a merry court. 

The greatest work which Leonardo did there was the painting of the 
"Last Supper," on the wall of the Dominican Convent of the Madonna 



5G STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

delle Grazie. This picture has remained famous to this day, and 
although it is now almost destroyed by the effect of time, such en- 
gravings have been made from it that we can imagine how it looked 
when perfect. Some good copies, made while it was in fair preservation, 
exist in other cities. 

It is said that the prior of the convent was very impatient at the 
time which Leonardo took for this work, and complained to the 
Duke. When the artist was questioned, he said that the trouble 




" THE LAST SUPPER." (PAINTED BY LEONARDO DA VINCI.) 

of finding a face which pleased him for that of the traitor. Judas 
Iscariot, caused the delay; and added that he was willing to 
allow the prior to sit for this figure, and so shorten the time. This 
reply amused the Duke and silenced the prior. 

At length the misfortunes of the Duke of Milan made it impossible 
for him to aid Leonardo further, and the artist came to poverty. II' 1 
went next to Florence, where he was kindly received ; but some trouble 
ensued between himself and Michael Angelo, who was then winning his 
fame. They both made designs for painting the Palazzo Vecchio, and 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



57 



as jealousy arose, Leonardo left the city and went to Rome, where Pope 
Leo X. employed him in some important works. He could not be 
happy, however; he was not loved and honored as he had been at 
Milan ; and when he heard that the Pope had criticised his work, he 




MOSTA LISA DEL GIOCONDO. (PAINTED BY LEONARDO DA VINCI.) 



joined the French King Francis I. at Pavia, where he then was, and 
remained with this monarch until his death. When they went to Paris, 
Leonardo was received with much honor, and everything was done for 
his comfort ; but his health had failed, and he died at Fontainebleau, 
where he had gone with the Court, in 1519. 



58 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Leonardo da Vinci may be called the " Poet of Painters." One of 
his most famous pictures was the portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo, 
sometimes called La Jbconde. Leonardo worked on this picture at 
times during four years, and was never satisfied with it. The paint- 
ing is now in the gallery of the Louvre at Paris. 



MICHAEL ANGELO BUONAEOTTI. 

This great artist was born in the castle of Caprese, in 147"). His 
father, who was of a noble Florentine family, was then governor of 
Caprese and Chiusi. When the Buonarotti family returned to Florence, 
the little Michael Angelo was left with his nurse at Settignano, where 
his father had an estate. The home of the nurse was there, and for 
many years pictures were shown upon the walls of her house which her 
little charge had drawn as soon as he could use his hands. 

When Michael Angelo was taken to Florence and placed in school, 
he became the friend of Francesco Granacci, who was of noble family 
like himself, and a pupil of the artist Ghirlandajo, one of the best 
masters in Florence. Already, Michael Angelo was unhappy because 
his father did not wish him to be an artist. At length, however. 
he became a pupil of Ghirlandajo, and that at a time when the 
master was engaged on the gi'eat work of decorating the choir of 
the church of Santa Maria Novella, at Florence. Thus Michael 
Angelo came immediately into the midst of wonderful things, and 
he was soon remarked for his complete devotion to the work about 
him. One day when the workmen were at dinner, the boy made 
a drawing of the scaffolding and all belonging to it, with the painters 
at work on it. When Ghirlandajo saw this he exclaimed : " lie 
understands more than I myself." 

It was not long before he corrected the drawing of the plates 



A 




PORTRAIT OF MICHAEL ANGELO BUONAROTTI. 



STOEIES OF AKT AND ARTISTS. 61 

which the master gave his pupils to copy ; then the plates were 
refused to him. Lorenzo cle' Medici soon gave permission to both 
Michael Angelo and Francesco Granacci to study in the gardens 
of San Marco. Girlandajo, we may well suppose, was only glad 
to be free from a pupil who already knew so much. 

Duke Lorenzo had placed many splendid works of art in the 
gardens of San Marco, and pictures and cartoons were hung in build- 
ings there, so that young men could study them. Many young sculp- 
tors worked there, and one Bertoldo, an old man, was their teacher. 
Michael Angelo now began to model, and his first work was the 
mask of a faun, which he copied so well as to attract the attention 
of Lorenzo. He praised Michael Angelo, but said : " You have 
made your faun so old, and yet you have left him all his teeth ; 
you should have known that at such an advanced age there are gen- 
erally some wanting." When he came again to the gardens, he 
found a gap in the teeth of the faun so well clone that he was 
delighted with it. 

Soon the Duke sent for the father of Michael Angelo, and obtained 
his full consent that the boy should be an artist. The young sculptor 
was then taken into the palace, where he was treated with great kind- 
ness by Lorenzo, and sat at his table, where he met all the remarkable 
men of the day, and listened to such conversation as is most profit- 
able to a boy. It was the rule that whoever came first to the table 
should sit next to the Duke, and Michael Angelo often had that 
place. 

But all this happy life was sadly ended by the death of Lorenzo 
de' Medici, and Michael Angelo left the palace and used a room in his 
father's house for his work-shop. After a time, Piero de' Medici 
induced him to return to the palace ; but the young man was ill at ease 
there, and soon went to Venice. Here he met a sculptor of Bologna, 
who induced him to visit that city ; but the commissions he received so 



62 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

excited the jealousy of other artists in Bologna that he returned again 
to Florence. He was now twenty years old, and the next work of hia 
which attracted attention was a '"Sleeping Cupid." which so resem- 
bled an antique statue that it was sold in Rome for a very old work ; 
two hundred ducats were paid for it, though Michael Angelo received 
but thirty ducats. By some means the knowledge of this fraud came 
to Michael Angelo, and he explained that he had known nothing of 
it, but had also been deceived himself; the result of all this was that 
he went to Rome, and was received into the house of the nobleman 
who had bought the " Cupid." 

He remained in Rome about three years, during which time he ex- 
ecuted the "Drunken Bacchus," now in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence, 
and "La Pieta" (or the Virgin Man - seated, holding the dead bodj of 
Jesus across her lap), a line piece of sculpture, now in the Basilica of 
St. Peter s at Rome. 

When Michael Angelo returned to Florence he executed some 
paintings and sculptures, but was soon employed on his "David," 
one of his greatest works. It was completed and put in its place 
in 1504, and there it remained more than two centuries. — next 
the gate of the Palazzo Vecchio. A few years ago it was feared 
that the beautiful statue would crumble in pieces if longer exposed 
to the weather, and it was removed to a place where it now stands, 
safe from sun and rain. 

When the " David " was completed, Michael Angelo was not quite 
thirty years old, but his fame as a great artist was firmly estab- 
lished. Through all his long life — for he lived eighty-nine years — 
he was constantly and industriously engaged in the production of 
important works. 

Michael Angelo was not merely a great painter, a great sculptor, or 
a great architect, — he was all of these. His most famous painting 
was that of the "Last Judgment " in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican. 




UNFINISHED MEDALLION, — ■ MADONNA AND CHILD. (BY MICHAEL ANGELO.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



65 



His most famous sculptures were the " David," " La Pieta," the " Tomb 
of Pope Julius II.," " Moses," " The Dying Youth," and the famous 
statues of " Day " and " Night ; " and his greatest architectural work 
is the Cupola of St. Peter's Church. But these are, in truth, a small 
part of all that he did. He served under nine popes, and during 
his life thirteen men occupied the papal chair. There were great 
political changes also during this 
time, and the whole impression of 
his life is a serious, sad one. He 
seems to have had very little joy 
or brightness, and yet he was ten- 
der and thoughtful for all whom 
he loved. He was an old man 
before he met Vittoria Colonna, 
who was a very wonderful woman, 
and much beloved by Michael An- 
gelo. He wrote poems to her, 
which are full of affection and 
delicate friendship ; for to all the 
other gifts which this great man 
possessed was added that of poe- 
try, which he used so nobly and 
purely. The Italians associate the 
name of Michael Angelo Buona- 
rotti with those of Dante Alighieri and the painter Raphael, and speak 
of these three as the greatest men of their country in what are 
called modern days. 

Michael Angelo died at Pome in 1564. He desired to be buried 
in Florence, but it was feared that his removal there would be opposed. 
His body was therefore taken through the gate of the city as merchan- 
dise ; when it reached Florence it was borne to the church of San Piero 




STATUE OF MOSES. BY MICHAEL ANGELO. 



66 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Maggiore. The funeral was at evening; the coffin, placed upon a bier, 
was borne by the younger artists, while the older ones carried torches ; 
and thus it i - eached Santa Croce, its final resting-place, — the same 
church in which the poet Dante was buried. 

A few months later magnificent services were held in bis 
memory in the church of San Lorenzo, where are bis fine statues 
of "Day" and "Night," made for the Medici chapel of this edifice. 
A monument was erected to him in Santa Croce, and his statue 
is in the court of the Uffizi. The house in which he lived, and 
which is still visited by those who honor bis memory, contains many 
very interesting personal mementos of this great man and of the 
noble spirit in which all bis works were done. 

In 1875 a grand festival was made to celebrate the four hundredth 
anniversary of his birth. The ceremonies on this occasion were very 
impressive, and at that time some documents relating to his life, 
which bad never before been opened, were given over by command 
of the King into the hands of suitable persons, to be examined. Mr. 
Heath Wilson, an English artist residing in Florence, wrote a new- 
Life of Michael Angelo ; and the last time that the King. Victor 
Emmanuel, wrote his own name before his death, it was on the 
paper which conferred upon Mr. Wilson the order of the Corona 
cT Italia, in recognition of his services in writing this book. 



RAPHAEL. 

Raphael Sanzio, or Santi, was born at Urbino on Good Friday. 1483. 
His father was a good painter, and the son showed bis talent for ait 
when very young. Raphael's mother died when he was eight years old. 
and bis step-mother Bernardina was devoted to him. and loved him 
tenderly. As bis father died three years after his mother, he was left 
to the care of an uncle and of Bernardina. His father was doubtless 



■J=JUn: ■ 

SBBBB 







Raphael's portrait of himself. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 69 

his first instructor, for he was occupied in painting a chapel at Cagli 
before his death, and he took the young Raphael with him to that 
place. But we usually say that Perugino was his first master, because 
when twelve years old he was placed in the school of that painter at 




PORTRAIT OP CESAR BORGIA. BY RAPHAEL. 
(BORGHESE PALACE, ROME.) 

Perugia. Here he remained nearly eight years, and here, just before 
leaving, he painted one of his very celebrated pictures, which is now 
in the gallery of the Brera at Milan. It represents the marriage of 
the Virgin Mary, and is called "Lo Sposalizio." 

The legend of the life of the Virgin relates, that when she was 



70 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

fourteen years old the high-priest told her that it was proper Eor her 
to be married, and that he had had a vision concerning her. 

Then the high-priest followed the directions which had been given 
him in the vision, and called together all the widowers among the 
people, and directed that each one should bring his rod or wand in his 
hand, as thereby a sign would be given by which they should know 
whom the Lord had selected to be the husband of Mary. 

Now, when Joseph came with the rest before the high-priest a dove 
flew out from his rod and rested a moment on his bead, and then 
flew off toward heaven; and so it was known that lie was to he the 
husband of Mary. Still another account says that all the suitors left 
their rods in the temple over night, and in the morning that of Joseph 
was found in blossom. 

In the picture painted by Raphael, with this story as its subject. 
there is a large temple in the background, to which a long flight of 
steps leads up ; at the foot of these the high-priest is joining the 
hands of Joseph and Mary, while groups of men and women stand on 
each side. Joseph holds his blossoming rod in his hand, while some of 
the disappointed suitors are breaking their rods in pieces. 

This picture of " Lo Sposalizio " is a very interesting and important 
one, because it shows the highest point of attainment in his earliest 
manner of painting. In the same year in which he painted this picture, 
1504, Raphael made his first visit to Florence; and though he did not 
remain there very long, he saw a new world of art spread out before 
him. He beheld the works of Ghirlandajo. Fra Bartolommeo, Leonardo 
da Vinci, and Michael Angelo, and we can well understand that after 
his return to Perugia he tried to equal what he had seen. He soon 
revisited Florence, and remained there until L508. 

Some of Raphael's most famous and lovely pictures were painted 
during these three years, before he was twenty-live years old ; one is 
called the "Virgin of the Goldfinch." because the little Saint John is 




LA MADONNA DELLA SEDIA, — " THE MADONNA OF THE CHAIR." (PAINTED BY RAPHAEL.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 73 

presenting a goldfinch to the infant Jesus. Another is called " La Belle 
Jardiniere," on account of the garden in which the Virgin sits, with the 
child standing at her knee. In all, he painted about thirty pictures dur- 
ing his stay at Florence ; and made himself so famous that the Pope, 
Julius II., who was a great patron of the fine arts, sent for him to come 
to Rome. 

When Raphael presented himself to the Pope, he was assigned 
several rooms in the palace of the Vatican, which he was to decorate 
in fresco. These pictures can scarcely be described here, but they were, 
taken altogether, his greatest work, and are visited by thousands of 
people every year. They are frequently called " Le Stanze " (meaning 
" the rooms " or " apartments ") of Raphael. 

At this time he also painted several beautiful easel pictures, — his 
own portrait, which is in the Gallery of Painters at Florence, and the 
lovely "Madonna di Foligno " in the Vatican gallery, so called because 
it was at one time in a convent at Foligno. While Raphael was at 
work upon " Le Stanze," Julius II. died ; but Leo X., who followed him, 
was also a patron of our artist, who now was very popular and became 
very rich. He built himself a house not far from St. Peter's, in the 
quarter of the city called the Borgo ; he had many pupils, and they so 
loved him that they rendered him personal service, and he was often 
seen in the streets with numbers of his scholars, just as noblemen were 
accompanied by their squires and pages. His pupils also assisted in 
the immense frescos which he did, not only at the Vatican, but also for 
the rich banker Chigi, in the palace now called the Villa Farnesina. 

One of the great works Raphael did for Pope Leo X. was the 
making of the Cartoons which are so often spoken of ; they were for 
a long time at Hampton Court, and are now in the South Kensington 
Museum in London. These were designed to be executed in tapestry 
for the decoration of the Sistine Chapel, where Michael Angelo painted 
the " Last Judgment." The Pope, Leo X., ordered these tapestries to 



74 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

be woven in the looms of Flanders, in rich colors, with wool, silk, and 
threads of gold. They were completed at Arras and sent to Rome in 
1519, and were first exhibited on Saint Stephen's Day, December 26. 

when all the people of the great city flocked to see them. These works 
have an interesting history. In 1")27, when Rome was sacked by the 
fierce Constable de Bourbon, the tapestries were removed by the French 
soldiers; they were restored in 1553, but one piece was missing, and 
was supposed to have been burned in order to obtain the gold thread 
that was in it. In the year 1708 the French once more carried off these 
precious spoils, and sold them to a Jew in Leghorn. It is known that 
this Jew burned one of the pieces, but he found he gained so little gold 
from it that he kept the others whole. Pius VII. afterward boughl them, 
and once more placed them in the Vatican. 

This history adds an interest to the tapestries; but the Cartoons are 
far more valuable and interesting, because they were the actual work of 
Raphael. After the weaving was finished at Arras, they were tossed 
aside as worthless; some were torn; but a hundred years later the 
painter Rubens learned that a part of them were in existence, and he 
advised King Charles I. of England to buy them. This Charles did, and 
then the Cartoons went through almost as many adventures as the tap- 
estries had met. When they reached England they were in strips, 
having been so cut for the convenience of the workmen. After Charles 
I. was executed, Cromwell bought the Cartoons for three hundred 
pounds. When Charles II. was king he was about to sell them to Louis 
XIV., for the English king needed money badly, and the French king 
was anxious to add these treasures to the others which he possessed ; 
but Lord Danby persuaded Charles to keep them. They were at 
Whitehall, and were barely saved from the fire in L698 ; and soon after 
that, by command of William III., they were properly repaired and 
removed to a room at Hampton Court, which was made expressly for 
them under the care of the architect Sir Christopher Wren. There 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 75 

were originally eleven ; seven only remain, and are so placed in the 
Kensington Museum that all who wish can see and study them. 

Raphael's fame had now so spread itself to other countries that it is 
said King Henry VIII. invited him to England. Henry was told that 
he coidd not hope to see the artist, who however courteously sent him a 
picture of Saint George, the patron saint of England ; and when Francis 
I. in his turn tried to induce Raphael to visit France, the artist sent him 
a large picture of Saint Michael overpowering the Evil One. Francis I. 
then sent Raphael so great a sum of money that he was unwilling to 
keep it without some return, and sent to Francis the lovely "Holy 
Family," now in the gallery of the Louvre, in which the infant springs 
from his cradle into his mother's arms, while angels scatter flowers. 
At the same time the artist sent a picture of Saint Margaret overcoming 
the Dragon, to the sister of Francis, — Margaret, Queen of Navarre. 
After these pictures had been received, the King sent Raphael a sum 
equal to fifteen thousand dollars, and many thanks besides. 

About 1520 Raphael painted his famous " Sistine Madonna," so 
called because it was intended for the convent of Saint Sixtus, at Pia- 
cenza. The Madonna, with the child in her arms, stands in the upper 
part of the picture, while Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara kneel below. 
This is very beautiful and wonderful, because no sketch or drawing of 
it has ever been found, and it is believed that this great painter put it 
at once upon the canvas, being almost inspired to the work. In the year 
1753 Augustus III., the Elector of Saxony, bought it of the monks of 
Piacenza, and paid nearly thirty thousand dollars for it. It is now the 
great attraction of the fine gallery at Dresden. It was originally in- 
tended for a procession standard, or drappellone, but the monks used it 
as an altar-piece. 

Another famous picture is called "Lo Spasimo" and represents 
Christ bearing his cross. In 1518 this was painted for the monks of 
Monte Oliveto, at Palermo. The ship in which it was sent was wrecked, 



76 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

and the case containing the picture floated into the port of Genoa, where 
the picture was unpacked and dried before it was injured. There 
was great joy in Genoa over this treasure, and the news of it spread 
over all Italy. When the monks of Palermo claimed it, the Genoese 
refused to give it up; and it was only the command of the Pope thai 
secured its restoration to its owners. During the time of Napoleon 1. 
it was carried to France, but is now in the Museum of Madrid. 

While Raphael was so productive as a painter, he found time to 
devote to other pursuits. The Pope had named him superintendent of 
the building of St. Peter's, and he made many architectural drawings 
for that church ; he was also very much interested in digging up the 
works of art which were buried in the ruins of ancient Rome. There 
still exists a letter that he wrote to Leo X,, in which he explained his 
plan for examining all the ruins of the city. 

He also made some designs and models for works in sculpture. 
There is a statue of Jonah sitting on a whale in the Church of Santa 
Maria del Popolo. in Rome, said to have been modelled by Raphael 
and executed in marble by Lorenzetto Lotti ; an Elijah, seen in the 
same church, is said to have been made by Lotti from a drawing by 
Raphael. He also interested himself in what was happening in the 
world ; he corresponded with many learned men in different coun- 
tries ; he sent artists to make drawings of such things as he wished 
to see and had not time to visit, and was generous in supplying the 
needs of those who were poorer than himself. 

Raphael lived in splendor and loved the gay world, and at one 
time he expected to marry Maria di Bibbiena, a niece of the Cardinal 
Bibbiena, but she died before the time for the marriage came. 

Among the most lovely Madonnas of this artist is that called 
''Delia Sedia " (of the chair); and there is a very pretty legend 
about it, which says that hundreds of years ago there was a hermit 
named Father Bernardo dwelling among the Italian hills, and he 



I^gr^: ^TT ~ ^~~ ' " -"-" '"'.«-.^«^y(F-; — -■ j —*-■■■ -- :•-- 


■"Te^SES^ 






^ , Jf j«- ; f 




IPF " '^fstp^^^^kfe/ % 




ksJj '" Kb^ JPriy** ^SHi^ iSt 




1 • >-'* ■'"'- " ^^JIBi^ ^SlSlk" •■■ ' 1 VJ\ , -'^ !, sa 




' ._-.- JB^^SgMffP^' ■^ :,: "' '.--^^^f^^^' ' ' ■ ?^& 




n j 




^■T .; ^ t > ; | ^ 




'-'^ ^* \ ** ^-^Hfe" 


•■■■■■■..,■■. 


-H \y& - 


■'■■".. . 


iw*«Ji ::— 'a ^ ' 


\ 


HBkv¥ ■k>*~ -^ .JX-; 


nn^H 


■BSflf Tj^H»g«g^HB&ffi2Bj|^B -rfJWJBWh.-'- 


: :-^^B 


■sHH ^ ; :.*!& ____ -^^Bi&l j&£3M^^& 










-^^^^^^ 




\^^ra 


* W 4k - isil«;- *' « ^HnHH r ; ', " <^SK 


|^H; 


iP^ j8? Mir** yH^H^n Us v^m 


^n^n 


■f " Jf^r^4 * 








. ■ 


mm - m ti 












^9 H^^H^^^^^^^^M W"£r • .41 








mm%$&i<WH xm> • 1e» ' HKh JSSSBlIlllBs 








|wl| " \ M ^m 




PJ^^^P''^^B^B^BnT ; ^^^BS^B bk-* '^d^B 




^^9hK ] fSH KjliflB' 




^? HkwT 




^BKHjSm 111'"'' ^H 




^Hiili^i ; ^ilH»iili& %2^ : ^^UmI 




'HH£^^9hh&&& v It W 




r'^^^S- ' M&SSill ~ ^3«£fflHMH 




' WBSggg^agM ^BmBBSJS > -^ -.wik 




NR1I' Bf-^ • ^^ 


^^^ | 


^^^^^^^|M^^^^§ ^^^r. r i' 






j 




i'l 




^ - *-4 




' '": ?j| 


^£?l BE ,;1 ^^*^^^P^m£ - 




;B^plSS8SW8| . IKI1I11I j? *\JB T|9 W *z jUB fil? 




EmaJ f mimmaKa ^^^ 


Ja - 


$3mi£iaB$$& 




^^^^^^™"^™^ — -— — - ' — ^ ' ' " "'*""' ^ --^-^-"--^^"^ ^- 





THE SISTINE MADONNA. (PAINTED BY RAPHAEL.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 79 

was much loved by the peasants, who went to him for advice and in- 
struction. He often said that in his solitude he was not lonely, for 
he had two daughters : one of them could talk to him, but the other 
was dumb. He meant to speak of the daughter of a vine-dresser, 
who was named Mary, and who always tried to do all in her power 
for the comfort of the old man : she was the daughter who spoke. 
By his dumb daughter he meant a grand old oak-tree that grew near 
his hut and sheltered it from storm, and hung its bi'anches over him 
so lovingly that the old man grew to feel it was like a dear friend to 
him. There were many birds in its branches, to whom he gave food, 
and they in return gave him sweet songs. Many times the woodmen 
had wished to cut this strong tree down, but Father Bernardo prayed 
for its life, and it was spared to him. 

At last there came a terrible winter; the storms were so severe 
that few trees and huts remained, and the freshets that rushed down 
the hills swept off all that the tempests had left. At last, after a 
dreadful storm, Mary and her father went to see if the hermit was 
still alive, for they feared that he had perished. But when they 
came to him they found that his dumb daughter had saved his life. 
On the coming of the freshet he had gone up to the roof of his 
hut ; but he soon saw that he was not safe there. Then, as he cast 
his eyes to heaven, the branches of the oak seemed to bend toward 
him, and beckon him to come up to them ; so he took a few crusts 
of bread and climbed up into the tree, where he stayed three days. 
Below, everything was swept away, but the oak stood firm ; and at 
last, when the sun came out and the storm was ended, his other 
daughter came to take him to her own home and make him warm 
and give him food, for this dreadful time of hunger and storm had 
almost worn him out. 

Then the good Father Bernardo called on Heaven to bless his two 
good daughters who had saved his life, and prayed that in some way 



80 STOEIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

they might be distinguished together. Years passed, and the old 

hermit died. Mary married, and became the mother of two little 
boys ; the old oak-tree had been cut down and made into wine-casks. 
One day, as Mary sat in the arbor and her children were with her. — 
she held the youngest to her breast, and the older one ran around 
in merry play, — she called to mind the old hermit and all the bless- 
ings that he had asked for her, and she wondered if his prayers 
would not Lie answered in these children. Just then the little boy 
ran to his mother with a stick to which he had fastened a cross, and 
at that moment a young man also came near; he had large dreamy 
eyes, and a restless, weary look. And restless he was. as the thought 
of a lovely picture was in his mind, but not clear enough in form to 
enable him to paint it. It was Raphael Sanzio d'Urbino; and when 
his glance fell upon the charming, living picture of Mary and her 
children, he saw in flesh and blood before him the lovely dream 
that had floated in his thoughts. But he had only a pencil ! On 
what could he draw ? Just then his eye fell on the smooth cover of 
the wine-cask standing near by. He quickly sketched upon this the 
outlines of Mary and her boys, and when he went away he took 
the oaken cover with him ; and thereafter did not rest until, with 
his whole soul in his work, he had painted that wonderful picture 
which we know as "La Madonna della Sedia." 

Thus, at length, was the prayer of Father Bernardo answered, 
and his two daughters were made famous together. 

At last the time came in Rome when there was much division of 
opinion as to the merits of the two great masters. — Michael Angelo 
and Raphael; the followers of the latter were the more numerous. 
bul those of the former were very strong in their feelings. Finally, 
the Cardinal Giulio dei Medici, who was afterward Pope Clement VII., 
gave orders to Raphael and to Sebastian del Piombo to paint two 
large pictures for a cathedral which he was decorating at Narbonne. 



STORIES OF AKT AND ARTISTS. 81 

It was well known that Michael Angelo would not enter into an 
open rivalry with Raphael, but he was credited with making the 
drawing for the " Raising of Lazarus," which was the subject to be 
painted by Sebastian. 

Raphael's picture was the " Transfiguration of Christ ; " but, alas ! 
before it was finished he was attacked with a fever, and lived but 
fourteen days. He died on Good Friday, 1520, his thirty-seventh birth- 
day. All Rome was filled with grief ; his body was laid in state upon 
a catafalque, and the picture of the Transfiguration stood near it. 
Those who had known him went to gaze on his face, to weep, and to 
give the last tokens of their love for him. 

He was buried in the Pantheon, where he himself had chosen to 
be laid, near the grave of his betrothed bride Maria di Bibbiena. 
An immense concourse dressed in mourning followed his body, and 
the ceremonials of bis funeral were magnificent. A Latin inscription 
was written by Pietro Bembo, and placed above his tomb. The last 
sentence is : " This is that Raphael by whom Nature feared to be 
conquered while he lived, and to die when he died." Raphael had 
also requested Lorenzetto Lotti to make a statue of the Virgin to be 
placed over his sepulchre. 

Raphael's property was large ; he gave all his works of art to his 
pupils Giulio Romano and Francesco Penni ; he gave his own house to 
Cardinal Bibbiena, and ordered that another should be purchased with 
a thousand scudi, the rent of which should pay for twelve masses to be 
said monthly on the altar of his burial chapel : this wish was observed 
until 1705, when the rent of the house was too small to pay for these 
services. The remainder of his riches was divided among his relatives. 

There was for many years a skull in the Academy of St. Luke at 
Rome which was called that of Raphael, although there was no good 
reason for this. At length, in 1833, three hundred and thirteen years 
after his death, some antiquarians began to dispute about this skull, 

6 



82 STORIES OF ART ANT) ARTISTS. 

and received permission from the Pope. Gregory XVI., to make a 

search for the bones of Raphael in the Pantheon. 

After five days spent in carefully removing the pavement in sev- 
eral places, the skeleton of the great master was found, and with it 
such proofs as made it impossible to doubt that the bones were really 
his. A cast was made from the skull and the right hand ; the skele- 
ton was then exhibited in a glass case, and multitudes of people went 
to gaze upon it. Finally, a grand funeral service was held. Gregory 
XVI. gave a marble sarcophagus, in which the bones were placed 
and interred reverently in their old resting-place. More than three 
thousand people attended the burial ceremony, among whom were 
persons of the highest rank in Rome, and many artists of all na- 
tions, who moved about the church in a procession, bearing torches, 
while beautiful music was chanted by a concealed choir. 

The number and amount of Raphael's works are marvellous when 
the shortness of his life is remembered. He left behind him two 
hundred and eighty-seven pictures and five hundred and seventy-six 
drawings and studies. 

It was not any one trait or talent which made Raphael so great, 
but it was a rare combination of faculties, and a personal charm which 
won all hearts, that entitled him to be called the greatest modern 
painter. His famous picture "Saint Cecilia," with its sweet expression 
and exquisite coloring, its impressive union of earthly beauty with 
holy enthusiasm, is symbolic of the varied qualities of this wonderful 
man. 

THE LEGEND OF THE PAINTER OF FLORENCE. 

While Raphael and some other artists found their greatest pleasure 
in making the loveliest pictures that they could imagine, there were 
also those who repeated again and again the pictures of Satan, and 
always tried to make him more and more hideous and frightful. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 83 

Oftentimes the Virgin was painted with the infant Jesus in her arms 
treacling the Evil One beneath her feet, and she was made to look 
more beautiful and Satan more ugly by the contrast. 

Once upon a time one of these artists had a very high scaffolding, 
and was painting his favorite subject of the Virgin and the Devil on 
a church, above a door, where those who passed in the street could 
see him. He wished to make this work his masterpiece, and his 
thoughts were fixed upon it night and day. The Virgin was finished, 
and was very beautiful. She seemed to look down with love and 
tenderness, and to grant a blessing to all who cast their eyes up to 
the height where she stood. 

Then the painter fixed his thoughts upon Satan, and tried to im- 
agine the most dreadful form of face that could be given him. The 
poet Southey told this story in verse, and says, — 

" What the painter so earnestly thought on by day 

He sometimes would dream of at night : 
But once he was startled, as sleeping he lay : 
'T was no fancy, no dream ; he could plainly survey 

That the Devil himself was in sight." 

Now, when the painter saw the Evil One thus before him he had 

no fear, but gave all his thought to the study of the features which 

fie so wished to reproduce in his picture. Satan begged the artist 

to paint him in a more attractive way, and also threatened him with 

some dreadful punishment if he did not consent to his wishes. But 

when morning came, the pious painter early mounted the scaffolding 

and touched and retouched his work, until the face of the Satan in 

his work was the exact picture of the one he had seen the night 

before. 

" Happy man ! he is sure the resemblance can't fail ; 
The tip of his nose .is like fire ; 
There 's his grin and his fangs and his dragon-like mail, 
And the very identical curl of his tail ; 
So that nothing is left to desire. 



84 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

"He looks, and retouches again with delight; 

'T is a portrait complete to his mind ; 
And, exulting again and again at the sight, 
He looks round for applause, and he sees with affright 

The original standing behind." 

The painter was more alarmed by this second appearance of Satan 
than he had been by that of the night, for the scaffold was very 
high and narrow; and when the Evil One stamped on it in hie 
anger it broke, and the poor artist saw only death before him. and 
that all the more bitter because it came just at the moment when 
he believed that he had achieved a triumph in his art. 

But in this need his piety did not fail him ; he looked up at the 
sweet face above him, and cried out for help. The Virgin extended 
her arms and held him in safety, while the scaffold went crashing 
down to the ground. There were many persons in the street who 
saw all this wonderful thing, and rejoiced that the good painter was 
saved. As for Satan, he fled in rage, while the painter called after 
him, " I '11 paint thee more ugly than ever." 

A somewhat similar story is told of a Spanish painter, who was a 
Friar, and also excelled in painting the Virgin with great beauty and 
Satan with intense ugliness. To him Satan also appeared, hut under an 
attractive and friendly form. After some time he persuaded the artist 
to take from the Sacristy of his convent certain jewels and give them to 
him; at first the Friar refused, but Satan knew how to flatter him. and 
at last went with him to secure the precious articles. As they were re- 
turning, bearing the jewels, Satan gave the alarm, and all the monks of 
the convent gathered about the poor deceived artist. When they found 
the jewels in his hands there was no explanation to he made, and as it 
was night they bound the poor painter to a pillar and left him there. 

No sooner was he alone than Satan came back to him and laughed 
at him for his folly; told him he was now punished lor the ugly 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 85 

pictures he had made of him, and mockingly asked why he did not 
call upon the Virgin whom he so loved. Then the poor painter did cry 
out, and beg the Virgin Mother to come to his relief. Immediately 
she appeared, and not only set him free, but also helped him to bind 
Satan to the same pillar to which he had been fastened. Then she 
told the painter to go to breakfast with the other monks. They were 
much astonished to see him, and listened to his story with great interest. 
The Virgin also restored all that was missing from the Sacristy ; and 
when the monks came to understand the truth of what had happened 
they gave the Evil One a severe flogging. The blows were laid on with 
right good-will, and they did not stop until they were all weary. 

From this time the Friar-painter worked in peace, his Virgins 
being more beautiful and his Satans uglier than ever before. 

The old legends about pictures are very curious, and are as wonder- 
ful and interesting as fairy tales ; there are several of them that relate 
how at different times the carved figures of the Saviour on the cross 
have bowed their heads in answer to prayer. Others tell how pictures 
have been painted by unseen hands ; and there is now in Florence, in 
the Church of the Santissima Annunziata, a picture of the Virgin 
which is called the " Miraculous Annunciation." It is said that when 
the artist, Pietro Cavallini, had finished all the picture except the head 
of the Virgin, he fell asleep ; when he awoke the. picture was completed, 
and he knew that it had been done by a divine hand, for but a short 
time had passed, in which no human artist could have made such a 
beautiful head, and he had all the time remained before the picture, so 
that no other person could have done it without arousing him. 

This picture is kept in the chapel of the Annunciation, which 
is to the left as one enters the church. It is considered so sacred that 
it is only shown on high festival days, when a great crowd of 
worshippers go to see it ; at other times it is invisible. 



86 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



ONOEATA EODIANA. 



There is a very interesting story told of an artist of Cremona, — 
Onorata Rodiana, — who while still a young maiden acquired such 
fame as a painter that she was summoned by the Marquis Gabrino 
Fondolo, called the " Tyrant of Cremona," to decorate some rooms in 
his palace. 

One day, as Onorata was mounted on a ladder, working at a wall- 
painting, a young courtier passing through the room began to tease 
her, and his banter degenerating into rudeness, she came down from 
the ladder and tried to run away from him. He pursued her, however, 
and caught her, when in her fright she drew a dagger from her belt ' 
and stabbed him fatally. Seeing what she had done, and fearing the 
wrath of the Marquis Fondolo, she hastened to put on the disguise of 
a boy's dress, and fled to the mountains. She there fell in with a band 
of conclottieri. The life of these men, half-soldier and half-brigand in its 
character, so fascinated Onorata that she at once consented to become 
one of their number, glad of the chance afforded her to make herself 
acquainted with the grand mountain scenery and the careless jollity of 
life in its wilds. She soon showed so much daring and skill that she 
was made an officer in the band, and held a post of command. 

When the ''Tyrant of Cremona" heard of the affray between the 
courtier and the maiden, and of her crime and flight, lie was furious. 
and threatened to hunt her to the very death ; but so skilfully had she 
concealed her identity that the marquis was baffled in all his efforts to 
track her. After a time, as he could find no other suitable artist to 
complete the paintings which Onorata Rodiana had begun, he declared 
a full pardon for her if she would return to the palace and finish her 
works. The news of this pardon was spread throughout the surround- 
ing country, and when Onorata heard of it she gladly laid aside her 
sword to resume her palette and brushes. She completed her task ; 



STOEIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 87 

and then finding that the exciting life she had led among the mountains 
had taken a strong hold upon her fancy, she returned to it and to the 
outlawed companions who had learned to respect and love her. 

Again and again she left them, only to return each time; for 
her heart and life were divided between her beloved art and her ro- 
mantic soldiering. At last, when her native village of Castelleone, 
near Cremona, was laid siege to, Onorata led her band to its relief, and 
drove away the enemy. But she rescued her birthplace at the cost of 
her life ; for she was mortally wounded in the conflict, and died soon 
after, within sight of the home of her childhood. I believe that she is 
the only woman who has ever been successful as both an artist and a 
soldier ; and I am sorry that I can find no work of hers of which a 
picture may be given here ; her story is well authenticated in history, 
and she died about the year 1472. 



TITIAK 

The great painter whom we call Titian was named Tiziano Vecelli. 
Sometimes Cadore is added to this, because his native place was the 
village of that name, situated in the Friuli, a district lying north of 
Venice. The family of Vecelli was of noble rank, and its castle of 
Lodore was surrounded by an estate on which were small houses and 
cottages. In one of these last, still carefully preserved, Titian was 
born in 1477. 

As a child, Titian was passionately fond of drawing ; and so much 
was he in love with color also, that instead of using charcoal or slate 
for his pencils, he pressed the juices from certain flowers to make colors, 
and with these he painted the figure of a Madonna while he was still 
very young. When he was nine years old he was taken to Venice to 
study painting, and from that time he was called a Venetian. Each 
great centre of art then had what was called a "school of art" of its 



88 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

own, and this expression occurs frequently in bonks about art : it 
means the peculiar characteristics of the artists of the city or country 
spoken of. For example, " the Roman School " means such a style of 
design and color as is seen in the works of Raphael, who is called the 
head of that School. So Titian came to be the head of the Venetian 
School of painting. He is also called by some writers the most excel- 
lent portrait-painter of the world. 

At first, in Venice, the boy was in the school of Sebastian Zuccato, a 
painter and worker in mosaics ; next he was a pupil of the Bellini, 
and formed an intimate friendship with his fellow-pupil Giorgione. 
who also came to be a great painter. 

I am sure that every one must know how much it sweetens 
study and makes one quick to understand and patient to work, to have 
a loving and sympathetic companion, — one to whom we can talk 
freely, feeling sure that we are understood, and who will be glad for us 
and proud of us when we make any advance. Such was the relation 
between Titian and Giorgione, and they lived in the same studio and 
worked together, — Titian with his golden tints, and Giorgione with bis 
more glowing colors. This happy time was when they were just com- 
ing to manhood, and were filled with bright hopes for the future. 

The name Giorgione means " Great George," and was given to 
this artist because he was very handsome, and had a noble figure and 
bearing. 

At length, when Titian was about thirty years old, the two friends 
were employed in the decoration of the "Fondaco dei Tedesehi." which 
was a hall of exchange for the German merchants in Venice. Here the 
work of Titian was more admired than that of Giorgione : and from this 
cause such a jealousy arose that they ceased to live together, and we 
have reason to believe that they never were good friends again. Yei 
after the early death of Giorgione his former companion completed the 
pictures he had left unfinished; and there is no doubt that Titian 




titian's portrait of himself. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 91 

grieved over his friend's death, which must have lessened greatly his 
pleasure in the fact that he himself was then left without a rival in 
all Venice. 

One of the most interesting pictures painted by Titian is " The 
Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple," which is now in the 
Academy of Venice. There are many pictures of this subject, but 
none so famous as this one. The legends of the life of the Virgin 
Mary relate how carefully her mother, Saint Anna, watched over her 
infancy ; and when the child was but three years old, it was decided to 
present her at the temple of the Lord. So her father Joachim said : 

" Let lis invite the daughters of Israel, and they shall take each a 
taper or a lamp and attend her, that the child may not turn back from 
the temple of the Lord." 

And being come to the temple, they placed little Mary on the 
first step, and she ascended alone all the steps to the altar ; and the 
high-priest received her there, kissed her, and blessed her, saying, — 

" Mary, the Lord hath magnified thy name to all generations, and in 
thee shall be made known the redemption of the children of Israel." 

Then the little Mary danced before the altar, and all her friends 
rejoiced with her and loved her ; and her parents blessed God because 
she had not turned away from the temple. 

Titian's picture of this presentation was painted for the Church of 
the Brotherhood of Charity ; this is called in Italian, " La Scuola 
della Carita," — and it is this church which is now the Academy of 
Art in Venice. The picture is gorgeous in color, and has a great 
deal of life and action. It is said that the priest who stands behind 
the high-priest is a portrait of Cardinal Bembo ; Titian himself is 
standing, looking up, and some of his friends are near him. 

A very interesting portrait by Titian is that of Caterina Cornaro. 
This young Venetian lady was so very beautiful that when her uncle, 
who had been exiled to Cyprus, showed her portrait to the young 



92 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



Prince Lusignan, the youth fell madly in love with her, and as 
soon as lie became King of Cyprus asked her to marry him. The 
Republic of Venice solemnly adopted Caterina as its daughter, and 
gave her to the King, with a very rich dowry. In two years her 
husband and her infant son both died, and she reigned alone over 
Cyprus during fourteen years; then she resigned her crown and 
returned to Venice about two years after Titian went there to study. 
She was received by the Venetians with grand ceremonies, and even the 
"Bucentaur," the ship of the State, was sent out to meet her and bear 




OUTLINE SKETCH OF TITIAN'S PAINTING, " THE PRESENTATION OF TIIF. VIRGIN IN 

THE TEMPLE." 



her to the city. — an honor which was never accorded to any other 
woman in all the history of Venice. At this scene of pomp the boy 
artist was present, and it must have made a deep impression on his mind. 
His portrait of this beautiful lady is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence; 
it represents her in a full Greek dress, with a gemmed crown upon 
her head, while near her is placed the wheel, the symbol of her 
patron saint, Saint Catherine. There are other portraits of her by 
Titian; and even in our day her story is of interest to artists, for 
not long ago ;i German painter, Hans Makart. painted a large pic- 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 93 

hire called " Venice Doing Homage to Caterina Cornaro," for which 
the Prussian Government paid about twelve thousand five hundred 
dollars ; the painting is now in the National Gallery at Berlin. 

In the same gallery with the portrait of Caterina is also the 
lovely " Flora ; " and near by, in the Pitti Palace, hangs one which 
is called " La Bella di Tiziano " (the beautiful lady of Titian). These 
two pictures are often copied. 

The fame of Titian spread throughout Italy and all over Europe, 
and the Duke Alphonso I., of Ferrara, invited him to come to that 
city. Titian remained a long time at the court of this duke, and 
made many fine pictures for him ; among them was the famous 
"Bacchus and Ariadne," now in the National Gallery in London. 
The mythological story of Ariadne relates that she had been deserted 
by her husband Theseus, and left upon the island of Naxos ; Bacchus, 
the beautiful young god of wine and pleasure, saw Ariadne there, 
and thought her so lovely that he married her and placed the 
marriage crown which he gave her among the stars. In Titian's 
picture the car of Bacchus, drawn by leopards, has halted, and the 
god leaps out to pursue Ariadne ; satyrs, fauns, and nymphs come 
in a gay troop out of a grove, and all dance about the car with 
wild, careless grace. 

While in Ferrara, Titian also painted a second mythological picture, 
which represents a statue of Venus surrounded by more than sixty 
children and Cupids ; some of them are climbing trees, some flutter 
in the air, while others shoot arrows, or twine their arms about 
each other ; this picture is now in Madrid. 

Titian was next invited by the Pope, Leo X., to go to Rome ; 
but he longed for his home in Venice, and for the visit which he 
was in the habit of making each year to his dear Cadore. He was 
weary, too, with the ceremony and pomp of court life ; and declining 
to go to Rome, hastened home to Venice. 



94 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



Titian bad married a lady named Cecilia, who died about L530; 
be bad two sons, Pomponio and Orazio, and a daughter called Lavinia. 
After the death of Titian's mother, his sister Orsa came from Cadore 
to live with him and care for the three little ones ; we shall saj 
more of them all, further on. 




GROUP FROM TITIAN S PAINTING, "THE PRESENTATION OF Till-: VIRGIN IX 

TUT. TEMPLE." 

In the same year, 1530, the Emperor Charles V. and Pope Clement 
VII. met at Bologna; all the most brilliant men of Germany and 
Italy were gathered there, and Titian was summoned to paint the 
portraits of the Pope and the Emperor, as well as those <>f [ppolito dei 
Medici and many other notable men. When Titian returned again 
to Venice, he was a great man: be bad honors, titles, and riches, 
and no longer lived in the simple manner of his earlier years. He 
now had a house at Berigrande, opposite the island of Murano ; the 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 95 

garden and the views from it were very beautiful. The wide canal, 
which at night was filled with gay gondolas bearing parties of 
ladies and their attendants, and the Murano, which was like another 
city with its graceful domes and towers, and beyond all the Friuli 
Alps, with their snow-peaks rising to the heavens, made up the 
lovely panorama upon which Titian continually gazed ; and its effects 
are seen in the landscape portions of his works. At Berigrande 
he enjoyed society, and entertained at his table the wise and witty 
men and women of Venice, as well as many strangers who visited the 
city. On one occasion, when a cardinal and others invited them- 
selves to dine at his house, which was called " Casa Grande," he 
flung a purse to his steward, and said : — 

" Now prepare a feast, since all the world dines with me." 
While living in Casa Grande he spent " the most glorious years 
of a glorious life," and all great people, both ladies and gentlemen, 
desired to have their portraits from his hand. If a collection of 
these portraits could be made, it would include nearly all the men 
of his time in Europe whose names have lived until now. The 
only man of note whose portrait he did not paint was Cosmo I., grand 
duke of Florence, who refused to sit for him. 

After he was sixty years old, Titian went the second time to Fer- 
rara, Urbino, and Bologna, and again made a portrait of Charles V. ; 
this time the Emperor had a favorite dog by his side. At length, in 
1545, Titian accepted an invitation from Pope Paul III., and went to 
Rome. A portrait of this Pope with his two grandsons, painted at this 
time by Titian, is in the Museum of Naples, and is a remarkable work. 
While at Rome he painted several fine pictures ; one of the most famous 
was that of Danae, which Michael Angelo praised very much. He 
repeated this subject several times ; a very beautiful copy is in the 
Gallery at Naples ; others are in Vienna and England. Titian was 
sixty-nine years old when he left Rome. 



96 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

During the winter of 1548 Titian went to Augsburg, where Charles V. 
again required his services. The Emperor had become very fond of 
the artist, and treated him with the greatest respect and consideration. 
While on this visit, it happened one day that Titian dropped his pencil. 
and the Emperor picked it up and returned it to him ; court etiquette for- 
bade that the sovereign should do such a service for any one, and Titian 
was much embarrassed. Charles seeing this, said : " Titian is worthy to 
be served by Caesar." 1 At Augsburg the painter was made a count, 
and received a yearly pension of two hundred gold ducats. 

Some writers have said that Titian visited Spain ; this does not now 
appear to be true. But it is certain that Charles V. continued through 
life his favors to him ; and when the Emperor resigned his crown and 
went to live in the monastery of Yuste, he took with him nine pictures 
by Titian. One of these was a portrait of the Empress Isabella, upon 
which Charles gazed when on his death-bed ; it is now in the Museum 
of Madrid. After Charles had given up his crown to his son Philip II.. 
the new monarch patronized the artist as his father had done, and many 
fine works by the master are now in Madrid. 

It is wonderful that Titian continued to paint so well when very 
aged; he was eightj'-one years old when he finished his picture of 
" The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence" for the Church of the Jesuits in 
Venice. Saint Lawrence is a prominent saint in the Roman Catholic 
Church, and it is historically true that he lived and that he died the 
dreadful death which is related in his legend. He was a Spaniard. Imt 
went to Rome when quite young, and was found so worthy in his life 
that Sixtus II., who was then the bishop of Rome, trusted lain greatly, 
and made him the keeper of the treasures of the Church. When Sixtns 
was led away to his martyrdom Lawrence clung to him. and wished 
to die also; but Sixtus told him that he would live three days longer, 
and commanded him to give the Church treasures to the poor. So Law- 
1 " Ctesar " was one of the titles of the Emperor. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 97 

rence went through the city, and gave much comfort to the sick and 
suffering, and cured some by laying his hands on them, which was 
thought to be a miracle. Very soon, however, he was summoned 
before the Emperor Valerian ; and when he could not show that tyrant 
the treasures of the Church, he was condemned to be put to death 
by being stretched on an iron bed, with bars like a gridiron, and 
roasted by a fire placed under him. He suffered this cruel death with 
great courage, and blessed God with his last breath. 

Titian has painted this martyrdom as a night scene, and the wonder- 
ful effect of the lights he has used makes it a very remarkable work. 
Above is a star, from which shoots a ray of heavenly glory on tbe face 
and form of Saint Lawrence, who is gazing up at it ; beneath is the light 
from the fire, and besides these there are two pans of burning pitch, 
the light from them casting a red glow over all. 

It is a true pleasure to watch the effects of all sorts of lights and 
shadows. The beauty of the sunshine that appears to flow out of the 
blue sky is made more beautiful in contrast with the deep shadows 
thrown on the grass by trees and other large objects. How much 
prettier are the light and shadow together, than all brightness or 
all shadow could be ! It is by the study of these things, and the 
representation of them, that painters give us so much pleasure. 

Now, in the picture of Saint Lawrence the face is not an agonized 
one, for it is lighted by the glory from above, rather than by the deep, 
bright lights which the wicked men about him have made. Some of the 
spectators are terrified by the calmness with which Saint Lawrence 
suffers, and they turn to flee ; others are hardened by the sight ; only 
one appears to be unaffected by the scene. In visiting the galleries 
of Europe one sees many pictures of the martyrdoms suffered by the 
early Christians ; but I know of none more masterful than this. 

Although Titian had enjoyed much prosperity, he had also suffered 
much. His wife and his dear sister Orsa had died ; his son Pomponio 

7 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



became a worthless fellow, and had made his father very unhappy; 
his daughter Lavinia had married, and the old artist was left alone with 

Orazio, who, however, was 
a dutiful son. But Titian 
had then reached such an 
age that most of the 
friends of his middle life 
had died, and he was a 
lonely old man. 

He had painted many 
pictures of his daughter 
Lavinia. who was very 
beautiful. One of these, at 
Berlin, shows her in a rich 
dress holding up a plate of 
fruit, and is one of the best 
of all his works. 

Orazio was also an ar- 
tist, but he usually painted 
on the same canvas with 
his father, and his works 
cannot be spoken of sepa- 
rately. Many pupils from 
all parts of Europe gath- 
ered about Titian in his 
latest years, and it is said 
that toward the close of 
his life, when be was at 
work upon an " Annunci- 
ation," some one told him that it did not resemble his former works ; 
this made him very angry, and he seized a pencil and wrote upon 




THE HIGH-PRIEST, FROM TITIAN S " THE PRESENTATION 
OF THE VIRGIN IN THE TEMPLE." 




THE VIRGIN. FROM TITIAN'S PAINTING, " THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN 
IN THE TEMPLE.'' 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 101 

the painting, " Tizianus fecit fecit," — by which he meant to say, 
" Titian truly did this ! " 

When Titian was ninety-six years old, Henry III. of France visited 
Venice, and waited upon him in his house ; the King was attended by 
a train of princes and nobles. The aged master entertained his Majesty 
with princely hospitality ; and when the King wished to know the price 
of some pictures, Titian presented them to him with an ease and grace 
of bearing which excited the admiration of all. 

Finally, in 1576, the plague broke out in Venice, and both Titian 
and Orazio were attacked by it. It was impossible for the father, who 
was now ninety-eight years old, to recover. It was hoped that Orazio 
might live ; and he was therefore taken away to a hospital, while his 
father, over whom he had so tenderly watched, was left to die alone. 
But the care taken of Orazio was of no avail, as he also died. 

When plagues and dreadful maladies prevail, wicked people often 
become more wicked and lose every feeling of humanity. So it was in 
Venice at this time ; and while the old master still lived, robbers 
entered his apartment and carried off his money, his jewels, and some 
of his pictures. 

Titian died on the 27th of August, 1576, and all Venice mourned 
for him. There was a law that no person who died of the plague 
should be buried within the city ; but an exception was made in 
this instance, and Titian was borne to the church of Santa Maria 
Gloriosa de' Frari, and there buried. This church is usually called 
simply "the Frari," — it is the same for which he had painted his great 
picture " The Assumption," now removed to the Academy of Venice. 
Another work of his, called the Pesaro altar-piece, still remains, not far 
from his grave. 

The spot where he is buried is marked by a simple tablet, on which 
is inscribed in Italian : " Here lies the great Tiziano di Vecelli, rival of 
Zeuxis and Apelles." 



102 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

In 17'.*4. about two centuries and a quarter after his death, the 
citizens of Venice determined to erect a monument to Titian, and the 
sculptor Canova made a design fur it ; but the political troubles which 
soon after occurred prevented the carrying out of the plan, and it was 
not until 18-32 that the Emperor Ferdinand I., of Austria, erected a 
costly monument to Titian's memory. It is near his grave, and consists 
of a Corinthian canopy, beneath which is a sitting statue of the painter; 
several allegorical statues are added to increase its magnificence. This 
monument was dedicated with imposing ceremonies; and it is curious to 
remark that not far away, in the same church, the sculptor Canova is 
buried, and his own monument is made from the design which he had 
drawn for that of Titian. 



ANDREA DEL SARTO. 

The true family name of this painter was Vannucehi. He was 
called del Sarto because his father was a tailor. — or un Sarto, in 
Italian. Andrea was born in 14SS, and when quite young was 
employed as a goldsmith and worker in metals. But his great 
desire was to become a painter; and when he finally studied art, 
he was untiring in his efforts to learn its rules and to understand 
its practice. Andrea was the pupil of Pietro di Cosimo, but his 
style of painting was not like that master's ; he seems to have 
had many original ideas, and to have formed his soft and fascinating 
manner for himself. 

Andrea del Sarto cannot be called a truly great painter; but 
his pictures are sweet and lovely, and would be more pleasing to 
some persons than those of artists of higher fame. He was very 
successful in his fresco-painting, and was employed in Florence in 
decorating the convent of the Nunziata, and in a building called 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



103 



the Scalzo ; the last was named from the Scalzi, Barefooted Friars, 
who held their meetings in it. These frescos are considered to be 
the finest of Andrea's works, although some of them are now much 
injured. 

Andrea had so much sorrow in his life, that one is moved to 
think he might have painted better had he been a happier man. 
He loved his wife devot- 
edly, though she was a 
selfish and mean-spirited 
woman, who never appre- 
ciated his talents, and 
seemed only to think of 
how she could get money 
to spend in a showy and 
extravagant way of liv- 
ing. She was even un- 
willing that he should 
care for his aged parents, 
and it was owing to her 
that he at length deserted 
them, although formerly 
he had been a kind and 
dutiful son. 

After a time (about 
1518), Francis I., the king 

of France, invited Andrea to go to Paris and execute works for him. 
The artist consented, and was treated with great consideration in the 
brilliant French capital. Soon, however, his wife insisted that he should 
return to Florence. Francis I. was very unwilling to allow Andrea to 
leave France, where he had engaged already to do many decorative 
paintings ; but Andrea was so much under the influence of his wife 




ANDREA DEL SARTO. 



104 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

that he did not dare to remain. So when he had made a promise, and 
solemnly sworn with his hand on the Bible that he would soon ret inn 
and bring his wife with him, and remain as long as might be necessary 
to finish the works he had engaged to do, the King consented to his 
departure. Francis also intrusted to Andrea a large sum of money, 
with which he was to buy works of art and other beautiful objects for 
the Kinsi;. 

When Andrea reached Florence, his wicked wife not only refused to 
go to France, but persuaded him to give her the money which belonged 
to Francis I. This she soon spent; and although Andrea had been so 
weak in listening to her wicked advice, he still was not so base that he 
could forget the wrong he had done in giving: the money to her. lie 
lived ten years longer, and painted many more pictures, but he was 
always very unhappy. Francis I. never forgave him for las breach of 
trust; and to this day, all who read the story of Andrea cannot but feel 
sorrow in remembering how weak he was, and how wickedly he came to 
act in consequence. 

In 1530 Andrea was attacked by a contagious disease ; his faith- 
less wife abandoned him, and he died alone, and was buried with- 
out a funeral or even a prayer, in the same convent of the Nunziata 
in which he had painted his finest frescos. One of these pictures is a 
"Repose of the Holy Family," which is usually called the "Madonna del 
Sacco," because in it Saint Joseph is represented as leaning on a sack. 

Now there are so many different pictures of the Holy Family, that 
they are divided into classes; and such as are called in Italian fl 
Eiposo, and in our own tongue "The Repose," all represent an incident 
of the flight into Egypt, when Saint Joseph, his wife Mary, and the child 
Jesus halted in their journey for rest and refreshment. The legend, in 
telling of this episode, says that near the village of Matarea, where 
they were resting, a fountain sprang forth by miracle ; and near by was 
a sycamore grove, beneath which the family found shade and protection. 




COREEGGIO. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 107 

The story has given a peculiar religious significance to the sycamore 
tree, by associating it with the mother of Christ ; and the Crusaders 
were in the habit of bringing branches of it into Europe as sacred 
mementos of the grove near the " Fountain of Mary," as the spring is 
called. When I was in Egypt I visited this spot, which is a few miles 
from the city of Cairo and is always pointed out to the Christians by 
the Arab guides. In some pictures of " The Repose," Mary is employed 
in dipping water from this fountain, or is washing linen in it ; and often 
angels are shown ministering to the comfort of the weary travellers. 

The oil paintings by Andrea del Sarto are very beautiful ; the finest 
one hangs in the Tribune of the Ufnzi Gallery, in Florence. This is 
a place of great honor, because some of the most remarkable works of 
art which exist in any collection in the world are in this same building, 
— such as the " Venus clei Medici," the " Dancing Faun," and other 
beautiful antique statues, as well as some of the finest pictures by 
Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian, Vandyck, and other great masters. 
This painting by Andrea is called the " Madonna di San Francesco," 
and represents the Virgin Mary seated on a throne, with the child Jesus 
in her arms, while Saint John the Baptist and Saint Francis stand, one 
at each side. 

The Madonna with her child was Andrea's favorite subject, and he 
represented it in a great variety of ways, always making sweet and 
attractive pictures. Occasionally he painted single figures of saints, 
such as Saint Barbara and Saint Agnes ; one of these is in the Cathedral 
of Pisa. Saint Agnes is one of the four virgin saints who are much hon- 
ored in the Roman Catholic Church. The story of Saint Agnes relates 
that she was a very beautiful Roman maiden, and a Christian from her 
birth, though she lived in the days when Christians were put to 
death in Rome. When she was about thirteen years old, the son of 
Sempronius, a powerful prefect, saw Agnes, and admired her so much 
that he wished to marry her ; but she refused to listen to him, saying 



108 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

she was already promised to a husband whom she loved. When she said 
this she meant Jesus Christ, because she intended to devote her whole 
life to his service, and in the Church of Rome the women who live lives 
of devotion are called the brides of Christ. Then the young man told 
his father of his wish to marry Agnes, and Sempronius went himself 
to ask her parents to give her in marriage to his son, who was made 
very unhappy by her refusal. 

But when Sempronius discovered that she was a Christian maiden 
he was rejoiced to think that he could command her to be put to death, 
and so end the whole matter without further trouble. Then soldiers 
were sent, who took her away from her mother and her home, and 
carried her to a house which served for a prison. Hei'e she was shut 
up alone, and all her clothes taken from her. and no food given her. SO 
that she should suffer from cold and hunger ; but the legend tells us that 
her hair was lengthened by a miracle, so that it fell all an mud her to 
cover her and keep her warm. Then she prayed earnestly to Christ. 
and a bright and shining garment appeared in her room, and when she 
had put it on the whole place was filled with a great light, so that 
her cruel jailers, who had left her in darkness, seeing this, were seized 
with a great fear. 

Now the son of the prefect hoped that all she had suffered would 
make her willing to say that she did not believe in Jesus Christ, and to 
marry him and live in luxury. But when he visited her in her prison 
another miracle was done ; for the light from her heavenly robe made 
the youth blind, and he fell down in convulsions. Then all the people 
cried out, '' She is a witch, she is a witch, and must be killed!" So 
she was sentenced to be burned alive ; but when the tire was lighted 
and the flames rose all about her, they did her no harm. At last an 
executioner killed her with a sword, and Agnes died peacefully, with 
her eyes gazing up to heaven. 

She was buried on the Via Nomentana, and the other Christians in 




GROUP OF SINGING ANGELS. (FROM A PAINTING BY <:ORREGGIO, IN THE CHOIR OF THE CHURCH 

OF ST. JOHN, IN PARMA.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. HI 

Rome loved to visit her grave and to weep there ; but she appeared to 
thein, and told them that they must not sorrow for her, because she was 
happy in heaven. 

There are two churches in Rome dedicated to Saint Agnes, besides 
many in other parts of the world ; and after the Apostles and 
Evangelists, she is a very important saint. She is usually represented 
in works of art with a lamb by her side, because the lamb is the type 
or symbol of modesty, purity, and innocence. 

COREEGGIO. 

Antonio Allegri — for this is the true name of this great painter 
— is called Antonio Allegri da Correggio, or Antonio Lieto da Cor- 
reggio. The name Correggio is taken from that of his birthplace, and 
Lieto and Allegri are his family names, and are Italian words which 
have the same meaning as the Latin word Icetus, or joyful. He was 
born in 1493, and was so clever that when thirteen years old he had 
not only studied many things such as other boys learn, but had mastered 
the rudiments of art, so that he could draw very well. 

He received his first lessons in drawing from his uncle, Lorenzo 
Allegri, and then studied under the famous Andrea Mantegna, and 
after the death of this artist, under his son, Francesco Mantegna. 
From these men Correggio acquired wonderfal skill in drawing, espe- 
cially in foreshortening, — that is, in representing objects seen aslant. 
These masters all had what is termed a dry, hard style, which is so 
different from Correggio' s that we are sure he soon added to what they 
had taught him the grace and movement and exquisite management 
of light and shade which appear in his paintings. 

I shall now try to explain further what is meant by foreshortening, 
because it is a very important element of good drawing, and all who 
wish to learn how to appreciate the works of others should understand 



112 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

what it is, as also should those who themselves practise drawing. It 
is specially proper to speak of this in connection with Correggio, as he 
is often said to be the must skilful of artists in this particular since the 
days of the ancient Greeks. 

The art of "foreshortening" is to make the objects which are 
painted or drawn on a plane surface look as they do in Nature when 
one is farther back than another, and where one part is thrown <>ut 
much nearer the eye than others are. To produce this effect it is 
frequently necessary to make an object — let us say. fur example, an 
arm or a leg — look as if it were thrown forward, out of the canvas, 
towards the person who is looking directly at it. Now. in truth, 
in order to produce this appearance the object is oftentimes tin-own 
backward in the drawing, and sometimes it is doubled up in a 
very unnatural manner, and so occupies a much smaller space on 
the canvas than it appears to do; for as we look at it. it seems to 
be of full size. 

The picture of "Christ in (dory." painted by Correggio in the 
cupola of the church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma, photo- 
graphs of which are easily obtained, is a fine piece of foreshortening, 
because the head is so thrown back and the knees are so thrown 
forward that the figure seems to he of full size ; yet if the space 
from the to}) of the head to the soles of the feet in the painting 
itself were measured, it would he found to lie much less than the 
full height of the figure would he if it were represented as erect. 

Another characteristic of this master is his delicate manner of 
passing gradually from light to shade, and so softening the whole 
effect of his work as to produce what is called, in Italian. chiaro- 
oscuro, which must be literally translated clear-obscure, — or a sort of 
mistiness which has some light in it. but is gradually shaded off into 
either full light or deep shadow. It is remarkable that in the early 
works of Correggio his peculiar qualities were evident; this is 




PART OF THE CEILING IN THE CONVENT AT PARMA. (AFTER FRESCOS BY CORREGGIO.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 115 

seen in the beautiful Madonna cli San Francesco, now in the 
Dresden Gallery, which was painted when he was but eighteen 
years old. 

When Correggio was twenty-six years old he married Girolama 
Merlini, and during the next eleven years was occupied with his 
great fresco-paintings in Parma and with works in Mantua, to which 
city he was summoned by the rich Duke Federigo Gonzaga, who reigned 
there. In 1530 the artist returned to Correggio, where he passed the 
remainder of his life. In 1533 he was one of the invited witnesses of 
the marriage of the Lord of Correggio, which would indicate that he 
was much esteemed by that nobleman. In 1534 he died of a fever, 
and was buried in his family tomb in the Franciscan convent at Correg- 
gio ; his grave is simply marked with his name and the date of his 
death. Correggio had but one son, named Pomponio Quirino Allegri ; 
he also was a painter, but did not make himself famous. 

There are several anecdotes related of Correggio the father. One is 
that when he first saw one of Raphael's great pictures he gazed upon 
it a long time, and then exclaimed enthusiastically : " I also am a 
painter! " and I dare say he then felt himself moved to try if he too 
might produce pictures which should live and bear his name through 
future centuries. 

When Titian saw Correggio' s frescos at Parma, he said : "Were I 
not Titian I should wish to be Correggio." Annibale Caracci, another 
great artist, said of Correggio, more than a century after that master's 
death : " He was the only painter ! " and he declared that the children 
painted by Correggio breathe and smile with such grace that one who 
sees them is forced to smile and be happy with them. 

The monks of the Monastery of Saint John the Evangelist at Parma 
learned to love Correggio very much, as he was much with them while 
engaged in painting in the church with which their monastery was 
connected. In order to show their affection, they elected him a member 



«* 



116 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

of the " Congregation Cassinensi." This entitled him to an interesl in 
the prayers and alms of the community ; and lie was also assured lliat 
both he and his family should have masses and prayers said for the 
repose of their souls after death, just as they were said for the monks 
themselves. 

At Seville, in Spain, there was a large picture by Correggio repre- 
senting the '-Shepherds Adoring the Infant Saviour." and during the 
Peninsular War (1808-14), when the people of Seville sent all their 
valuable things to Cadiz for greater safet}', this picture was cut in two, 
so that it could be more easily moved. By some accident the halves 
were separated, and afterward were sold to different persons, each buyer 
being promised that the corresponding half should soon be delivered to 
him. Great trouble arose, because both purchasers determined to keep 
what they had, and each claimed that the other part belonged to him : 
and as they were both obstinate, these half-pictures have remained 
apart. It is very fortunate that each one forms a fine picture by 
itself ; and perhaps they thus give pleasure to a greater number of 
people than if they were united. 

It is very interesting to visit Parma, where the most important 
works of Correggio are seen. He painted much, not only in the church 
of Saint John the Evangelist, but also in the cathedral of Parma, and in 
the convent of the Benedictine nuns, where he decorated a parlor with 
wonderful frescos. Over the chimney-piece is a picture of Diana. 
Goddess of the Moon, and protector of young animals. Sometimes she 
has been represented as a huntress, but in this picture she is Goddess 
of the Moon, which is placed above her forehead. The ceiling of this 
parlor is high and arched. The illustrations, showing in the semicircles 
a satyr and Ceres the Goddess of Plenty, will help one to understand 
how elaborately and beautifully the ceiling is decorated. It is painted 
to represent an arbor of vines, having sixteen oval openings, at each 
of which some frolicking children appear, peeping in and out, as if 




PART OF THE CEILING IN THE CONVENT AT TARMA. (AFTER FRESCOS BY CORREGGIO.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



119 



they were passing around and looking down into the room ; each 
child bears some sign or symbol of Diana. Beneath each opening 
there is a half-circular picture of some mythological story or person- 
age, such as " The Three Graces," " The Nursing of Bacchus," " Ceres," 
"Minerva," "The Suspension of Juno," "A Satyr," and others. All 




SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST. (FROM THE PAINTING BY COREEGGIO, IN THE CHURCH 
OP ST. JOHN, IN PARMA.) 

the frescos in this wonderful room have been so often engraved 
and photographed that they are familiar to lovers of art the world 
over. 

Some of the oil paintings by Correggio are very famous. Among 
them is one called the Notte, or " Night," which is in the Dresden 
Gallery. It represents the " Nativity of the Saviour," and has re- 
ceived its name from the fact that the only light in the picture shines 
from the halo of glory around the head of the infant Jesus. In the 
same gallery is Correggio's " Mary Magdalene," represented as lying on 
the ground and reading the Scriptures from a book lying open before 
her on the sward. Probably no one picture in the world has been 
more generally admired than this. 



120 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Another masterpiece is the "Marriage of Saint Catherine," in the 
Louvre, at Paris. According to the legend concerning her. this saint 
was the half-niece of the great Emperor Constantine. and her mother 
was Queen Sabinella of Egypt. It is said that at the moment when 
Catherine was born a bright light was seen to play about her head. 
and she grew to be a remarkable and very learned child. Ait it 
her father's death, as she was the heir to the throne her advisers 
begged of her to marry, and urged as reasons that she was of the 
most noble blood in the world, and that she surpassed all others in 
wealth, knowledge, and beauty. She replied that she would only 
marry one who was of such high descent that all would worship him; 
so great as not to feel it a favor to be made a king ; so beautiful 
that even the ana;els would desire to see him; and so benign as to 
forgive all offences. Then her mother and all the people were 
sorrowful, for they knew of no such man. 

Now there was a hermit who lived in the desert not far from 
Alexandria, to whom the Virgin Mary appeared and commanded him 
to go to Catherine and say that her son was all that she desired 
in a husband. The hermit also gave Catherine a picture of Jesus 
and his mother. When the young girl gazed on this she loved him. 
and could think of nothing; else. That night she dreamed that she 
went with the old hermit to a sanctuary on a high mountain, and 
angels came to meet her; then she fell on her face, but one angel 
said, "Stand up, dear sister Catherine, for thee hath the King of 
Glory delighted to honor." Then she followed them, and they led 
her to the cpieen, and the queen led her to the Lord ; but he tinned 
away and said, " She is not fair enough for me." 

After this dream, Catherine asked the old hermit what she must 
do to become worthy of this heavenly Bridegroom. Then the hermit 
taught her how to be a Christian, and both she and her mother were 
baptized. After this, as she slept, the Virgin Mary came again and 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 121 

led her to Christ ; then he smiled on her and put a ring on her 
finger. When Catherine awoke, this miraculous ring was still there ; 
and from this hour she forgot all earthly things, and tried only 
to be worthy of her Lord. 

After a time a persecution was declared against the Christians 
at Alexandria by the Emperor Maximin, and Catherine went up 
to the temple and argued with the tyrant, confounding him first, 
and afterwards fifty wise men wbom be called up to oppose her. 
After many trials, the Emperor determined that Catherine should be 
put to death. First she was bound to wheels, so that when they 
should be turned she would be torn in pieces ; but angels came and 
burned the wheels, and pieces of them flew around and killed three 
thousand of the wicked people who were gathered about her. At 
last she was beheaded ; then angels came and bore her body to 
Mount Sinai, and four centuries after her death a monastery was 
built over her burial-place. 

Saint Catherine is greatly venerated in the Roman Catholic Church, 
and is called a patron saint of education, science, and philosophy, 
and of all students and colleges. She is also a patroness of elo- 
quence, and those who cannot speak plainly by reason of any impedi- 
ment pray for her aid. She is a patron saint of the city of Venice, and 
ladies of royal birth claim her as one of their protectors because she 
was of such noble birth. In works of art she is always represented as 
clothed in rich garments, and a wheel, either whole or broken, is placed 
near her as her symbol. This wheel also serves to distinguish the 
pictures of the Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria from those 
of the Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena ; the latter may also be 
known by her robe, as she belonged to the Dominican Order. 

Saint Catherine of Alexandria is sometimes painted standing on the 
head of Maximin ; this picture is intended to show the triumph 
of her Christian faith over his cruelty and Paganism. 



122 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



BEUNELLESCHI. 



In reading about art we often find something concerning a certain 
time which is called the Renaissance, and the art of that period bears 
the same name, — the Art of the Renaissance. This is a word meaning 
a new birth or a re-awakening ; in art it denotes the time when the 
darkness and ignorance of the Middle Ages was passing away, and men 
were arousing themselves and endeavoring to restore literature and art 
to the high places they had once occupied. The artists who took the 
lead in this movement were a remarkable class of men, and merit 
remembrance and gratitude from all those of later times who have 
profited by their example. 

Some authors call Filippo Brunelleschi, or Branellesco, the " Father 
of the Art of the Renaissance." He was born in Florence in 1377, and 
died in 1446. His mother was of a noble family, and on bis father's 
side he had learned notaries and physicians for his ancestors. Filippo's 
father desired that his son should be a physician, and directed his 
education with that end in view ; but the boy had such a love of art, 
and was so fond of the study of mechanics, that his father at length 
allowed him to learn the trade of a goldsmith, — which trade was in 
that day more closely connected with what we call the " fine arts " than 
it is now. 

Filippo made rapid progress, now that he was doing something that 
pleased him, and soon learned to excel in the setting of precious stones ; 
and this, too, in exquisite designs drawn by himself. He also made 
some beautiful figures in niello. This art was so interesting that I 
must describe it to you, especially because to it we owe the origin of 
engraving. 

The niello-worker drew a design upon gold or silver, and cut it out 
with a sharp tool called a burin. He then melted together some copper, 
silver, lead, and sulphur, and when the composition was cool ground it 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 123 

to a powder. He covered his drawing with, this, and over it sprinkled 
powdered borax ; he then placed it over a charcoal fire, when the 
powder and borax melted together and ran into the lines of the draw- 
ing. As soon as this was cool, the metal on which the drawing had 
been made was scraped and burnished, and the niello then had the 
effect of a drawing in black upon gold or silver. Niello-work was 
known to the ancients, and there are rare old specimens of it in some 
museums. The discovery of the art of taking impressions on paper 
from these drawings on metal is ascribed to Maso Finiguerra, who 
flourished about the time when Brunelleschi died. 

After Filippo had perfected himself as a goldsmith and niello-worker 
he studied sculpture, and executed some designs in bas-relief ; but he was 
always deeply interested in such mathematical and mechanical pursuits 
as fitted him to be the great architect which he finally became. 

Filippo went to Rome with his friend Donatello, and there he was 
untiring in his study of architecture, making innumerable drawings 
from the beautiful objects of ancient art which he saw. One day when 
these two artists were digging among the ruins in the hope of finding 
some beautiful sculpture, they came upon a vase full of ancient coins, 
and from that time they were called " the treasure-seekers." They 
lived very poorly, and made the most of their small means ; but with 
a.11 their economy they suffered many privations. Donatello returned 
to Florence, but Filippo Brunelleschi studied and struggled on. All 
this time there was growing in his heart a great desire to accomplish 
two things in his native city, — to revive there a pure style of architec- 
ture, and to raise the dome upon the then unfinished cathedral. He 
lived to see the realization of both these ambitious hopes. 

The Cathedral of Florence is also called the Church of Santa Maria 
del Fiore, which means Saint Mary of the Flower ; this may also be ren- 
dered Saint Mary of the Lily, and is better so, since the lily is the 
emblem of the Virgin Mary, the chief patron saint of Florence. Saint 



124 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Reparata is another favorite Florentine saint, who in pictures holds in 
her hand a banner, on which is a lily. The same device was on the red 
shield of the republic ; indeed, the very name of Florence is popularly 
believed to have had its origin in the abundance of its flowers, espe- 
cially the lily known as the Iris Florentina, which grows wild in the 
fields and in the clefts of the old walls in various parts of the city. 

In 1407 Brunelleschi returned to Florence ; and soon after, the 
superintendents of the works upon the cathedral listened to the plans 
of various architects for raising the dome. Filippo proposed his views, 
but they were considered far too bold. He made models in secret, and 
convinced himself that he could accomplish the great work. After a 
time he wearied of the waiting and returned to Rome, always thinking 
and planning about the dome, the erection of which had now become 
the one passionate wish of his heart. The struggle was long, and be 
suffered from the ignorance and indecision of the officials of Florence. 
At length, in 1420, a call was made for the architects of all countries 
to come with their plans; and after many meetings and debates the 
commission was finally given to Brunelleschi, thirteen wearisome years 
having passed since he had first asked for it. 

At this meeting of architects Filippo refused to show his models ; 
and when he was criticised for this it is said that he proposed that if 
any one present could make an egg stand upright on a smooth marble, 
he should be the builder of the dome. The eggs were brought, and the 
others all tried in vain to make one stand. At last Filippo took his 
egg, and striking it a little blow upon the marble, left, it standing 
there. Then the others exclaimed that they could have done the same. 
To this Filippo replied : " Yes, and you might also build a dome if you 
were to see my designs ! " 1 

1 This story of the egg is also told of Columbus, but it doubtless originated as given above, in- 
asmuch as many Italian writers thus tell it ; and if true of Brunelleschi. the incident must have 
happened some fourteen years before Columbus was born. The astronomer Toscanelli was a 
great admirer of Brunelleschi, and there is little doubt of his having told this story to Columbus. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 125 

The story of the building of the dome is very interesting, but it 
is too long to be given here. Endless difficulties were placed in 
Filippo's way, but he overcame them all, and lived to see his work 
wellnigh completed ; only the outer coating was wanting at the time of 
his death. It is the largest dome in the world. The cross on the top 
of St. Peter's at Rome is farther from the ground than is that above 
Santa Maria del Fiore, but the dome of the latter is larger than the 
dome of St. Peter's. It was also the first dome that was raised upon a 
drum, as the upright part of a dome or cupola is called ; and this fact 
alone entitles Filippo Brunelleschi to the great fame which has been 
his for more than four centuries. 

He designed many other fine architectural works in and about 
Florence, among which are the church of San Lorenzo ; that of Santo 
Spirito ; some beautiful chapels for Santa Croce and other churches ; 
the Hospital of the Innocents and the Badia at Fiesole. That he 
had also a genius for secular architecture is proved by his having de- 
signed the famous Pitti Palace. 

The builder of this palace was Luca Pitti, a very rich rival of the 
great Medici and Strozzi families, whose ambition was to erect a palace 
which should excel theirs in grandeur and magnificence. This palace 
stands in the midst of the Boboli gardens, and was for a long time the 
residence of the sovereigns of Tuscany and Italy, but was given 
up by Victor Emmanuel when he removed to Rome and made that 
city the capital in 1870. 

The visitor to the Pitti Palace has his interest and attention divided 
between the beauty of its surroundings, the splendor of the palace 
itself, and the magnificent treasures of art preserved there, — the 
collection being now best known as the Pitti Gallery. 

Filippo's enthusiasm for art made him willing to endure any 
amount of fatigue for the sake of seeing beautiful things. One 
day he heard Donatello describe an ancient marble vase which he 



126 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

had seen in Cortona. As Filippo listened lie was possessed with 
the desire to see it, and quietly walked away, saving nothing of his 
intentions. He went on foot to Cortona, a distance of seventy-two 
miles, saw the vase and made accurate drawings from it. and was 
again in Florence before he was really missed by his friends, who 
supposed him to be busy with his inventions in his own room. 

A very interesting story concerning Filippo and Donatello is that 
the latter received an order for a crucifix, carved from wood, for the 
church of Santa Croce ; when it was finished he asked Brunelleschi's 
opinion of it. Relying on their long friendship, Filippo frankly said 
that the figure of Christ was like that of a day-laborer, whereas that 
of the Saviour should represent the greatest possible beauty. Donatello 
was angiy, and replied : " It is easier to criticise than to execute ; do 
you take a piece of wood and make a better crucifix."' 

Brunelleschi did this, and when he had completed his work invited 
Donatello to dine with him. He left the crucifix in a conspicuous 
place in his house while the two went to the market to buy the 
dinner. He gave the parcels to Donatello and asked him to pre- 
cede him, saying that he would soon be at home. When Donatello 
entered and saw the crucifix, he was so overcome with admiration 
that he dropped eggs, cheese, and all on the floor, and stood before 
the carving as motionless as if made of wood bimself. When 
Brunelleschi came in he said, — 

'• What are we to do now ? You have spoiled all the dinner! " 

" I have had dinner enough for to-day." replied Donatello. " You. 
perhaps, may dine with better appetite. To you, I confess, belongs 
the power to carve the figure of Christ; to me that of representing 
day-laborers." 

This crucifix is now in the chapel of the Gondi in the Church of 
Santa Maria Novella, while that of Donatello is in the chapel of Saints 
Ludovico and Bartolommeo. in the Church of Santa Croce. 




THE GHIBEKTI GATES. — THE EAST DOOR OF THE BAPTISTERY AT FLORENCE. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 129 

On the south side of the square which surrounds the cathedral, 
called the Piazza del Duomo, there is a modern statue of Brunelleschi. 
He is represented as sitting with a plan of the great dome spread 
upon his knee, while his head is raised and he looks at the realization 
of his design as it rises above the cathedral. He was buried beneath 
the dome. His monument is the first in the southern aisle, where he 
was interred at the expense of the city. A tablet in the wall bears 
his epitaph, and above it is his bust, made by his pupil Buggiani. 



GHIBEETI. 

Loeenzo Ghiberti also belonged to the early days of the Renais- 
sance, and took a leader's place in the sculpture of bas-reliefs, as 
Brunelleschi did in architecture. He was born in Florence in 1378, 
and died in 1455. He was both a goldsmith and a sculptor, and 
all his works show that delicate finish and exquisite attention to 
detail which is so important when working in precious metals. When 
the plague broke out in Florence in 1398 Ghiberti fled to Rimini, 
and while there painted some pictures ; but his fame is so closely 
linked with one great work that his name usually recalls that alone. 
I mean the bronze gates to the Baptistery of Florence, which are 
so grand an achievement that it is fame enough for any man to be 
remembered as their maker. 

Andrea Pisano had made the gates to the south side of the Bap- 
tistery, which is octagonal in form, many years before Ghiberti was 
born. When the plague again visited Florence in 1400, the people 
believed that the wrath of Heaven should be appeased and a thank- 
offering made, so that they might be free from a return of this 
dreadful scourge. The Guild of Wool-merchants then decided to add 
these gates to their beloved Church of Saint John the Baptist. 

They threw the work open to competition, and many artists sent 



130 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

in models of a bas-relief representing the sacrifice of Isaac. Finally, 
all were rejected but those of Brunelleschi and Ghiberti, and for 
a time there was a doubt as to which of these artists would be 
preferred. It had happened that while Brunelleschi had been strug- 
gling for the commission for the building of his dome, Ghiberti had 
annoyed him very much, and, indeed, after the work was begun 
he did not cease his interference. For this reason it could scarcely 
have been expected that Brunelleschi should favor Ghiberti ; but 
the true nobility of his character declared itself, and he publicly 
acknowledged that Ghiberti's model was finer than his, and retired 
from the contest. 

The gates on the north were first executed ; they were begun 
in 1403 and finished twenty-one years later. They contain twenty 
scenes from the life of Christ, with the figures of the Evangelists 
and the four Fathers of the Church in a very beautiful frame-work 
of foliage, animals, and other ornaments, which divides and incloses 
the larger compositions. These gates are in a style nearer to that 
of Pisano and other artists than are the later works of Ghiberti ; how- 
ever, from the first he showed original talent, for even his model 
of " The Sacrifice of Isaac," which is preserved in the Museum of the 
Bargello together with that of Brunelleschi, proves that he had a 
new habit of thought. 

Beautiful as these northern gates are, those on the east are finer and 
far more famous ; it is of these that Michael Angelo declared, " They 
are worthy to be the gates of Paradise!" Here he represented 
stories from the Old Testament in ten compartments: (1) Creation 
of Adam and Eve ; (2) History of Cain and Abel ; (3) Noah; (4) Abra- 
ham and Isaac; (5) Jacob and Esau; (6) History of Joseph : (7) Moses 
on Mount Sinai; (8) Joshua before Jericho; (0) David and Goliath; 
(10) Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. 

Ghiberti showed great skill in composition, and told these stories 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 131 

with wonderful distinctness ; but I fancy that every one who sees 
them for the first time must have a feeling of disappointment on 
account of the confusion which comes from the multitude of figures. 
But when they are studied" attentively this first effect passes away, 
and the wonderful skill of their maker is revealed. They must 
ever remain one of the great monuments of this most interesting 
age of the Eenaissance. 

Ghiberti also made the sarcophagus of Saint Zenobius, which is 
in the Cathedral of Florence, and is his greatest work after the 
gates. Other sculptures of his are in the churches of Florence and 
Siena. 

DONATELLO. 

The real name of this sculptor was Donato di Betto Bardi. He 
was born in 1386 and died in 1468. He was a realist ; that is to 
say, he followed Nature with great exactness. This was not produc- 
tive of beauty in his works; indeed, many of his sculptures were 
painfully ugly. Donatello is important in the history of art, because 
he lived at a time when every advance was an event ; and he made 
the first equestrian statue of any importance in modern time. This 
is at Padua, in the square before the Church of San Antonio; it 
represents Francisco Gatta-Melata, and is full of life and power. 

He made some beautiful marble groups of dancing children for 
the front of the organ in the Cathedral of Florence, which have 
since been removed to the Uffizi Gallery. One of these groups is 
shown in the illustration on page 133. Several of his statues of 
single figures are in Florence, Siena, and Padua. He considered his 
"David," which is in the Uffizi, to be his masterpiece. It is famil- 
iarly known as Lo Zuccone, which means " the bald head ; " he was 
so fond of this statue that he had the habit of affirming his state- 
ments by saying, " By the faith I place in my Zuccone ! " In spite 



132 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

of Donatello's opinion, however, it is generally thought that his 
statue of " Saint George " (shown on page 137) is far more admirable 
than the " David." 

The German art-writer Grimm says of this statue : " What a man 
is the Saint George in the niche of the Church of Or San Michele ! 
He stands there in complete armor, sturdily, with his legs some- 
what striding apart, resting on both with equal weight, as if he 
meant to stand so that no power could move him from his post. 
Straight before him he holds up his high shield ; both hands touch 
its edge, partly for the sake of holding it. partly in order to rest 
on it ; the eyes and brow are full of expectant boldness. . . . We 
approach this Saint George, and the mere artistic interest is trans- 
formed suddenly into a more lively sympathy with the person of 
the master. . . . Who is it, we ask, who has placed such a man 
there, so ready for battle ? " 

The story we have told of Donatello, in connection with Bru- 
nelleschi, shows that he was impetuous and generous by nature. 
Another ancedote relates that a rich Genoese merchant gave him a 
commission to make a portrait bust of himself in bronze. When it 
was finished, Cosimo de' Medici, the friend and patron of Donatello, 
admired it so much that he placed it on the balcony of his palace, 
so that all Florentines who passed by might see it. 

When the merchant heard the artist's price for his work ho 
objected to it ; it was referred to Cosimo, w T ho argued the case with 
the merchant. In his conversation the Genoese said that the bust 
could be made in a month, and that he was willing to give the 
artist such a price that he would receive a dollar a day for his time 
and labor. When Donatello heard this he exclaimed, "I know how 
to destroy the result of the study and labor of years in the twink- 
ling of an eye ! " and he threw the bust into the street below, where 
it was shivered into fragments. 




GROUP OF DANCING CHILDREN. (BY DONATELLO.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 135 

Then the merchant was ashamed, and offered Donatello double 
the price he asked if he would repeat his work; but though the 
sculptor was poor he refused to do this, and remained firm in his 
decision, though Cosimo himself tried to persuade him to change his 
determination. 

When Donatello was old, Cosimo gave him a sum of money 
sumcient to support himself and four workmen. In spite of this 
generous provision the sculptor paid little attention to his own 
appearance, and was so poorly dressed that Cosimo sent him a 
gift of a red surcoat, mantle, and hood ; but Donatello returned 
them with thanks, saying that they were far too fine for his use. 

Donatello outlived his patron and friend, and during the last of 
his life was a bedridden paralytic. Piero de' Medici, the son of 
Cosimo, was careful to supply all Donatello's wants, and when he 
died his funeral was conducted with great pomp. He was interred in 
the Church of San Lorenzo, near the tomb of his friend Cosimo. The 
artist had purchased the right to be thus buried, — " to the end," he 
said, " that his body might be near him when dead, as his spirit had 
ever been near him when alive." Several of Donatello's sculptures are 
in this church, and are a more suitable monument to his memory than 
anything could be that was made by others after his death. 

BENVENUTO CELLINI. 

This sculptor had an eventful life, and the story of it, written by 
himself, is one of the most interesting books of its class in existence. 
He was born in Florence in 1500, and died in 1571. He gives a very 
interesting though improbable account of the origin of his family, which 
is that " Julius Csesar had a chief and valorous captain named Fiorino 
da Cellino, from a castle situated four miles from Monte Fiascone. 
This Fiorino having pitched his camp below Fiesole, where Florence 



136 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

now stands, in order to be near the river Arno for the convenience of 
the army, the soldiers and other persons when they had occasion to 
visit him said to each other, 'Let us go to Fiorenza.' which name they 
gave to the place where they were encamped, partly from their cap- 
tain's name of Fiorino, and partly from the abundance of flowers which 
grew there; wherefore Caesar, thinking it a beautiful name, and con- 
sidering flowers to be of good augury, and also wishing to honor bis 
captain, whom he had raised from an humble station and to whom be 
was greatly attached, gave it to the city which he founded on that spot." 

When the child was born, his father, who was quite old, named him 
Benvenuto, which means " welcome ; " and as he was passionately fond 
of music he wished to make a musician of this son. But the boy was 
determined to be an artist, and divided his time between the two 
pursuits until he was fifteen years old, when he went as an apprentice 
to a celebrated goldsmith. We must not forget that to be a goldsmith 
in the days of the Benaissance meant in reality to be a designer, a 
sculptor, — in short, an artist. They made altars, relicpiaries, cruci- 
fixes, caskets, and many sacred articles for the churches, as well as 
splendid services for the tables of rich and royal patrons ; they made 
weapons, shields, helmets, buttons, sword-hilts, coins, and many kin- 
dred objects, besides the tiaras of popes, the crowns, sceptres, and dia- 
dems of sovereigns, and the collars, clasps, girdles, bracelets, rings, 
and numerous jewelled ornaments then worn by both men and women. 
So excpiisite were the designs and the works of these men that they 
are now treasured in the museums of the world, and belong to the 
realm of art as truly as do pictures and statues. 

Benvenuto was of so fiery a temper that he was early involved in a 
serious quarrel, being obliged to fly to Siena, and then to Bologna. As 
soon as he dared he returned to Florence and resumed his work, but be- 
cause his best clothes were given to his brother, he became anerv again 
and walked off to Pisa, where he remained a year. Meantime he had 




DONATELLO'S STATUE OF SAINT GEORGE. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 139 

become skilful in the making of various articles ; and not only his 
execution but his designs were so fine that in some respects he has 
never been excelled. 

When Cellini was eighteen years old, the sculptor Torregiano — 
who had given Michael Angelo a blow upon the nose which disfigured 
the great sculptor for life — returned to Florence to engage workmen 
to go with him to England to execute a commission which he had 
received. He desired to have Cellini among the number, but the 
youth was so outraged by Torregiano' s boasting of his disgraceful 
deed that he refused to go, in spite of the natural desire of his age 
for travel and variety. Doubtless this predisposed Michael Angelo 
in his favor, and led to the friendship which he afterwards showed 
to Cellini. 

During the next twenty-two years he lived principally in Rome, 
and was largely in the service of Pope Clement VII., the cardinals, and 
the Roman nobles. The Pope had a magnificent diamond, — for which 
Pope Julius II. had paid thirty-six thousand ducats, — and he wished 
to have it set in a cope button. Many artists made designs for it, but 
the Pope chose that of Cellini. He used the great diamond as a throne, 
upon which sat a figure representing God ; the hand was raised to bless, 
and many angels fluttered about the folds of the drapery, while various 
jewels surrounded the whole. The other artists shook their heads at 
the boldness of Cellini, and anticipated a failure ; but he achieved a 
great success. 

Cellini, according to his own account, bore an active part in the 
siege of Rome, May 5, 1527. He claims that he slew the Constable di 
Bourbon, the leader of the besieging army, and that he also wounded 
the Prince of Orange, who was chosen leader in place of Bourbon. 
These feats, however, rest upon his own authority. Cellini entered the 
castle of St. Angelo, whither the Pope retired for safety, and he suc- 
ceeded in rendering such services to the cause of the Church that the 



140 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Holy Father pardoned him for all the "homicides lie had committed, 
or might commit, in the service of the Apostolic Church." 

But in spite of all his boasted bravery in the siege of Koine, Cellini 
acted a cowardly part a few years later, when he was called upon for 
the defence of his own city : he put his property in the care of a friend 
and stole away to the Eternal City. 

In 1534 Cellini committed another crime in killing a fellow gold- 
smith, — Pompeo. Paul III. was now the pope, and because he needed 
the services of Cellini he pardoned him ; but the artist felt that he 
was not regarded with favor. He therefore went to France, but 
returned at the end of about a year to find that he had been accused 
of having stolen certain jewels, the settings of which Clement VII. 
had commanded him to melt down in order to pay his ransom when 
he was kept a prisoner in the castle of St. Angelo. Cellini's guilt 
was never proved, but he was held a prisoner for nearly two years. 

In 1540, his friend Cardinal Ippolito d'Este obtained his release 
on the plea that Francis I., King of France, had need of his services. 
Cellini remained live years in France, receiving many gifts and honors. 
He was made a lord, and was presented with the Hotel de Petit Nesle, 
which was on the site of the present Hotel de la Monnaie. The 
story of his life in France is interesting, but we have not space to 
give it here. He never made the success there which he merited as 
an artist, because Madame d'Etampes and other persons who had in- 
fluence with the King were the enemies of Cellini. Francis I. really 
admired the sculptor, and on one occasion expressed his fear of losing 
him ; when Madame d'Etampes replied that " the surest way of keeping 
him would be to hang him on a gibbet." A bronze nymph which 
he made for the Palace of Fontainebleau is now in the Renaissance 
Museum at the Louvre; and a golden salt-cellar, made for King Fran- 
cis, is in the "Cabinet of Antiques" in Vienna, These are all the ob- 
jects of importance that remain of Cellini's live years' work in France. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 141 

At length, in 1545, Cellini returned to Florence, never again to 
leave it for any considerable time. He was favorably received by 
Duke Cosimo, and soon commissioned to make a statue of Perseus 
to be placed in the Loggia dei Lanzi. When Cellini heard this, his 
ambition was much excited by the thought that a work of his should 
be placed beside those of Michael Angelo and Donatello. The Duke 
gave him a house in which to work, and a salary sufficient for his 
support. Nine years passed befoi'e this statue was in place and 
uncovered. Meantime the sculptor had suffered much from the hatred 
of his enemies, and especially from that of Baccio Bandinelli. In 
one way and another the Duke had been influenced to withhold the 
money that was necessary to carry on the work. But at last the 
time came for the casting ; everything was prepared, and just at 
the important moment, when great care and watchfulness were needed, 
Cellini was seized with so severe an illness that he was forced to 
go to bed, and believed that he should soon die. 

As he lay tossing in agony, some one ran in and exclaimed, " Oh, 
Benvenuto ! your work is ruined past earthly remedy ! " 111 as he 
was he rushed to the furnace, and found that the fire was not suffi- 
cient and that the metal had cooled and ceased to flow into the mould. 
By superhuman efforts he remedied the disaster, and again the bronze 
was liquid ; he prayed earnestly, and when he saw that his mould 
was filled, to use his own words, " I fell on my knees and thanked 
God with all my heart, after which I ate a hearty meal with my 
assistants ; and it being then two hours before dawn, I went to bed 
with a light heart, and slept as sweetly as if I had never been 
ill in my life." 

When the statue was at last unveiled, it was as Cellini had pre- 
dicted : " It pleased all the world except Bandinelli and his friends," 
and it still stands as the most important work of his life. Perseus is 
represented at the moment when he has cut off the head of Medusa, 



142 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

who was one of the Gorgons and changed every one who looked 
at her into stone. The whole story of what he afterward did with 
this dreadful head before he gave it to Minerva to put in her breast- 
plate is one of the most interesting in mythology. 

After the completion of the Perseus, Cellini visited Rome and 
made a bust of Bindo Altoviti, concerning which Michael Angelo 
wrote : " My Benvenuto, I have long known you as the best gold- 
smith in the world, and I now know you as an equally good sculptor, 
through the bust of Messer Bindo Altoviti." This was praise indeed. 
He did no more great work, though he was always busy as long 
as he lived. A marble crucifix which he made for his own grave 
he afterward gave to the Duchess Eleanora ; later it was sent to 
Philip II. of Spain, and is now in the Escorial. 

We have spoken of Cellini's autobiography, which was honored by 
being made an authority in the Accademia della Crusca on account 
of its expressive diction and rich use of the Florentine manner of 
speech; he also wrote a valuable treatise upon the goldsmith's .art. 
and another upon sculpture and bronze-casting. He takes up all 
the departments of these arts, and his writings are of great value. 
He also wrote poems and verses of various kinds. But his asso- 
ciation with popes, kings, cardinals, artists, men of letters, and peo- 
ple of all classes makes the story of his life by far the most interesting 
of all his literary works. 

Cellini's life was by no means a good one, but he had a kindly spol 
in his heart after all ; for he took his widowed sister with six chil- 
dren to his home, and treated them with such kindness that their 
dependence upon him was not made bitter to them. When he died, 
every honor was paid to his memory, and he was buried in the 
Church of the Annunziata, beneath the chapel of the Company of 
St. Luke. 



STOEIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 143 

DOMENICHINO. 

In reading of the Italian painters we often find something about 
" the early masters." This term is applied to the great men like 
Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian, and a few others who were them- 
selves illustrious from their own genius, and were imitated by so 
many other artists that they stand out with great prominence in 
the history of painting. Titian may be named as the last of the 
really great masters of the early schools. He died in 1575, near 
the close of the sixteenth century, just when there was a serious 
decline in art. The painters of that time are called "Mannerists," 
because they followed mechanically the example of those who had 
gone before. Some copied the style of Michael Angelo in a cold, 
spiritless manner ; others imitated Raphael, and so on. But true 
artistic inspiration had apparently died out ; the power to fix upon the 
canvas or the wall such scenes as would come to a poet in his 
dreams seemed to be lost to the world. 

About the year 1600 a new interest in art was felt, and painters 
divided themselves into two parties, between whom there was much bit- 
terness of feeling. On one side were those who wished to continue the 
imitation of the great masters, but also to mingle with this a study 
of Nature. These men were called "Eclectics," — which means that 
they elected or chose certain features from various sources, and 
by uniting them produced their own manner of painting. Their 
opposers desired to study Nature alone, and to represent everything 
exactly as it appeared : these were called " Naturalists." 

The chief school of the Eclectics was at Bologna, where Ludovico 
Caracci had a large academy of painting, and was assisted by his 
two nephews, Agostino and Annibale Caracci, the latter being the 
greatest artist of the three. The effect of the Caracci school upon 
the history of painting was so great that it can scarcely be estimated ; 



144 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

and Domenico Zampieri, called Domenichino, was the greatest painter 
who came out from it. 

Domenichino was born at Bologna in 1581, and was early placed 
under the teaching of Denis Calvart, who forbade his drawing after 
the works of Annibale Caracci. The boy, however, disobeyed this 
order ; and being discovered, was treated with such severity that 
he persuaded his father to remove him from Calvart and jdace him 
hi the Caracci school. 

He was so dull a boy that his companions gave him the name 
of "the Ox;" but the master, Annibale, said: "Take care! this 
ox will surpass you all by and by, and will be an honor to his art." 
Domenichino soon began to win the prizes in the school, and at 
last, when he left his studies and went to Rome, he was well pre- 
pared for his brilliant career. He shunned society, and visited public 
places only for the purpose of studying the expressions of joy. 
sorrow, anger, and other emotions which he wished to paint in his 
pictures, and which he could see without embarrassment on the faces 
of those whom he observed at places of public resort. He also 
tried to feel in his own breast the emotion of the person he was 
representing. It is said that when he was painting an executioner 
in his picture of the " Scourging of Saint Andrew," he threw him- 
self into a passion and used high words and threatening gestures : 
at this moment he was surprised by Annibale Caracci, who was so 
struck with the ingenuity of his pupil's method that he threw his 
arms about him. exclaiming. " To-day, my Domenichino, thou art 
teaching me ! " 

The masterpiece of Domenichino is now in the Vatican, and is 
called the "Communion of Saint Jerome." This is universally con- 
sidered to be the second picture in Rome, the "Transfiguration" by 
Raphael only being superior to it. Saint Jerome is one of the 
most venerated of all saints, and especially so on account of his 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 145 

translation of " The Vulgate," or the New Testament, from Hebrew 
into Latin. The story of Saint Jerome's life is very interesting. 
He was of a rich family, and pursued his studies in Rome, where 
he led a gay, careless life. He was a brilliant scholar, and became 
a celebrated lawyer. When he was thirty years old he was con- 
verted to Christianity ; he then went to the Holy Land and lived 
the life of a hermit. He founded a monastery at Bethlehem, and 
there made his translation of the Scriptures, which entitled him to. 
the consideration of all Christian people. 

After ten years' absence from Rome Jerome returned, and now 
made as great a reputation as a preacher as he had before enjoyed as a 
lawyer. Under his influence many noble Roman ladies became Chris- 
tians. After three years he went back to his convent in Bethlehem, 
where he remained until his death. When he knew that he was about 
to die, he desired to be carried into the chapel of the monastery ; there 
he received the sacrament, and died almost immediately. 

It is this final scene in his life that Domenichino has painted. In 
the foreground is the lion usually seen in all pictures of Saint Jerome, 
and which is one of his symbols, because he was a hermit and passed 
much time where no living creature existed save the beasts of the 
desert. There is also a legend told of Saint Jerome and a lion, which 
says that one evening as the saint was sitting at the gate of the con- 
vent a lion entered, limping, as if wounded. The other monks were all 
terrified, and fled, but Jerome went to meet the lion, who lifted up his 
paw and showed a thorn sticking in it, which Jerome extracted, and then 
tended the wound until it had healed. The lion now seemed to con- 
sider the convent as his home, and Jerome taught him to guard an ass 
that brought wood from the forest. One day, while the lion was asleep, 
a caravan of merchants passed, and they stole the ass and drove it away. 
The lion returned to the convent with an air of shame. Jerome believed 

that he had killed and eaten the ass, and condemned him to bring; the 

10 



146 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

wood himself ; to this the lion patiently submitted. At length one 
day the lion saw a caravan approaching, the camels led by an ass. as is 
the custom of the Arabs. The lion saw at once that it was the same 
ass that had been stolen from him, and he drove the camels into the con- 
vent, whither the ass was only too glad to lead them. Jerome at once 
comprehended the meaning of it all ; and as the merchants acknowl- 
edged their theft and gave up the ass, the monk pardoned them and 
sent them on their way. 

After a time the jealousy of other artists made Domenichinp so 
uncomfortable in Rome that he returned to Bologna; and his fame 
having gone abroad, he was invited by the Viceroy of Naples to come 
to that city, and was given the important commission to decorate the 
chapel of St. Januarius. At this time there was an association of 
painters in Naples who were determined that no strange artist who 
came there should do any important work. They drove away Annibale 
Caracci, Guido Reni, and others, by means of a petty system of perse- 
cution. As soon as Domenichino began his work, he was subjected to 
all sorts of annoyances. He received letters threatening bis life ; and 
though the Viceroy took means to protect him, his colors were spoiled 
by having ruinous chemicals mixed with them, his sketches were stolen 
from his studio, and insults and indignities were continually heaped 
upon him. At length he was in such despair that he secretly left the 
city, meaning to go to Rome. 

As soon as Domenichino' s flight was discovered, the Viceroy sent for 
him and brought him back. New measures were taken for bis protec- 
tion, but just as his work was advancing well he suddenly sickened and 
died. It has been said that he was poisoned ; be that as it may, there 
is little doubt that the fear, anxiety, and constant vexation that he had 
suffered caused his death; and in any case his tormentors must be 
regarded as his murderers. He died in 1G41, when sixty years old. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 147 

GUIDO EENI. 

Guido was the next most important painter of the Caracci school. 
He was born at Bologna, in 1575. His father was a professor of music, 
and when a child, Guido played upon the flute ; but he early determined 
to be a painter, and became a great favorite with the elder Caracci. 
When still a youth, Guido heard a lecture by Annibale Caracci, in which 
he laid down the rules that should govern the true painter. Guido 
listened with fixed attention, and resolved to follow these directions 
closely in his own work. He did so, and it was not long before his 
pictures attracted so much attention as to arouse the jealousy of other 
artists ; he was accused of being insolent and trying to establish a new 
system, and at last even Ludovico turned against him and dismissed 
him from the Academy. 

He went to Rome, where his fate was but little better. Caravaggio 
then had so much influence there that he almost made laws for all the 
other painters ; and when the Cardinal Borghese gave Guido an order, 
he directed him to do his work in the manner of Caravaggio. The 
young painter obeyed the letter of the command ; but quite a different 
spirit from that of Caravaggio filled his picture, and his success was 
again such as to make other artists hate and endeavor to injure him. 

Considering the work of this artist with the cooler and more critical 
judgment made possible by the lapse of so many years, the truth seems 
to be that Guido was hot a truly great painter ; but he had a lofty con- 
ception of beauty, and tried to reach it in his pictures. He really 
painted in three different styles. His earliest manner was the strong- 
est, and had a force which he outgrew when he came to his second 
period, where his only endeavor was to make everything bend to the 
idea of sweetness and grace. His third style was careless, and came 
to him when his ambition to be a great artist was gone, and only a 
desire for money remained. 



148 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

In bis best works tbere is no great deptb of meaning, and a same- 
ness of expression marks them as tbe pictures of an artist lacking 
originality and inventive power. His masterpiece in Rome was the 
'f Aurora," on a ceiling in tbe Rospigliosi Palace. It. is much admired, 
and is familiar to us from tbe engravings after it. Aurora, the goddess 
of the dawn, is represented as floating on tbe clouds before tbe chariot 
of Phoebus, or Apollo, the god of tbe sun. She scatters bowers upon 
tbe earth, which is seen in the distance far below. The sun-god holds 
the reins over four white and piebald horses; just above them floats 
Cupid, with his lighted torch. Tbe Hours, represented by seven grace- 
ful female figures, dance along beside the chariot. A question is some- 
times asked as to the reason of their number being seven. The Hours, 
or Tlorce, have no fixed number ; sometimes they were spoken of by the 
ancients as two; again three, and even ten, are mentioned. Thus an 
artist has authority for great license in painting them ; however, it has 
always seemed to me, in regard to this picture, that Guido counted 
them as ten, for in that case three would naturally he out of sight on 
the side of the chariot which is not seen in the picture. 

A second very famous picture by Guido, painted during bis besl 
period, is tbe portrait of Beatrice Cenci, which is in the gallery of the 
Barberini Palace at Rome. There are few pictures in the world about 
which tbere is so sad an interest. The beautiful young girl whom it 
represents was the daughter of Francisco Cenci, a, wealthy Roman 
nobleman. The mother of Beatrice died, and her father made a second 
marriage, after which be treated the children of his fir>t wife in a 
brutal manner; it is even reported that he hired desperate men to 
murder two of his sons, who were returning from a journey to Spain. 
It is said that bis cruelty to Beatrice was such that she murdered him. 
with the aid of her brother and her step-mother. Other authorities say 
that these three had no band in the father's murder, but were made to 
appear as tbe murderers through the plot of some robbers who were 




BEATRICE CESTCI. (AFTER THE PAINTING BY GUIDO RESTI.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 151 

really guilty of the crime. But guilty or innocent, all three were 
condemned to death, and were executed in 1599. Clement VII. was 
the Pope at that time, and would not pardon Beatrice and her com- 
panions in their dreadful extremity, notwithstanding the crimes and 
cruelty of the father were made known to him, and mercy implored for 
this beautiful girl. It has been stated that the Pope was influenced by 
his desire to confiscate the Cenci estates, as he had a right to do if the 
members of the family suffered the penalty of death. The sad face of 
the girl, as painted by Guido, is so familiar to us from the many re- 
productions that have been made of it, that sometimes when we see it 
suddenly it startles us almost as though it were the face of some one 
whom we had known. 

After a time Guido left Rome for Bologna. From there he sent his 
picture of Saint Michael to the Cappucini in Rome, and wrote as follows 
concerning it : "I wish I had the wings of an angel • to have ascended 
into Paradise, and there to have beholden the forms of those beatified 
spirits from which I might have copied my archangel ; but not being- 
able to mount so high, it was in vain for me to search for his re- 
semblance here below ; so that I was forced to make an introspection 
into my own mind, and into that idea of beauty which I have formed 
in my own imagination." It is said that this was always his method, 
— to try to represent some ideal beauty rather than to reproduce the 
actual loveliness of any living model. He would pose his color-grinder, 
or any person at his command, in the attitude he desired, and after 
drawing the outline from them, he would supply the beauty and the 
expression from his own imagination. This accounts for the sameness 
in his heads. His women and children are pretty, but his men lack 
dignity ; and we feel this especially in his representations of Christ. 

It is said that on one occasion a nobleman who was very fond of 
the painter Guercino went to Guido, at the request of his favorite art- 
ist, to ask if he would not tell what beautiful woman was the model 



152 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



from which he painted all the graces that appeared in his works. In 
reply, Guido called his color-grinder, who was a dirty, ugly-looking 
fellow, and made him sit down and turn his head to look up at the 
sky. He then sketched a Magdalene in the same attitude and with the 
same light and shadow as fell on the ugly model ; but the picture had 
the beauty and expression which might suit an angelic being. The 
nobleman thought this was done by some trick, but Guido said : " No, 
my dear Count; but tell your painter that the beautiful and pure idea 
must be in the head, and then it is no matter what the model is." 



* Si2i c iSi o iS t S i S »!n £ io i2i2 £^^ 




"AURORA." (BY GUIDO REN1.) 



Toward the end of his life, Guido's love for gaming led him into 
great distresses, and he multiplied his pictures for the sake of the 
money of which he stood in great need ; for this reason there are 
many works said to have been painted by him which are not worthy 
of his name. He died at Bologna in 1642, when he was sixty-seven 
years old; and though he had always received the most generous 
prices from his patrons, he passed his last days in miserable poverty, 
leaving many unpaid debts as a blot upon his memory. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



153 



IL SODDOMA. 



Although this painter belonged to Siena and to a much earlier 
period than that of Guido Reni, there was a certain similarity between 
the two which has associated them in my mind. 




HEAD OF ROXANA. (FROM A PICTURE OF THE MARRIAGE OF 
ALEXANDER BY IL SODDOMA.) 



The real name of this artist was Gianantonio Bazzi, or Razzi, and 
he was born at Vercelli in 147-1. He was free and easy in his 
mode of life, being fond of animals and having magpies, monkeys, 
and so on in his house. A raven who mimicked him perfectly in 



154 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

manner and speech was his especial favorite. His companions were 
frequently odd and curious rather than interesting or attractive peo- 
ple ; and considering all these peculiarities it is not a matter of sur- 
prise that the young wife whom he married left him soon after the 
birth of her first child. 

Yet despite this life, which would seem to have been as unfa- 
vorable to artistic conceptions as was the gaming mania of Guido 
Reni, — which brought him into low and debasing companionship, — 
II Soddoma had an extraordinary conception of beauty, and his genius 
made him great, although he became vain and careless, and painted 
only from the force of whims or need. 

Pope Julius II. called II Soddoma to Rome and employed him 
in the Vatican, where no important work of his remains ; but in 
the Villa Farnesina there are two of his frescos which are very in- 
teresting. They represent the " Marriage of Alexander and Roxana," 
and " Alexander in the Tent of Darius." 

The first is especially fine, — warm in color and exquisite in soft- 
ness. The head of Roxana, of which we give a reproduction, is 
lovely, and though not possessing the sort of interest that attaches 
itself to the portrait of Beatrice Cenci, yet if viewed from a purely 
artistic point of view the Roxana is finer than Guido's world-renowned 
Beatrice. 

The most authoritative and interesting works by this master are 
in Siena, — one of which, the "Ecstasy of Saint Catherine," gives 
another fine example of his exquisite manner of representing women. 
Pictures attributed to II Soddoma exist in various European galleries. 
but it is not certain that they are all genuine. He is sometimes called 
the pride of the Sienese school. 



stories of art and artists. 155 

p:lisabetta sieani. 

Among the followers of Guido Reni, this young woman, who 
died when but twenty-five years old, is conspicuous for her talents 
and interesting on account of the story of her life. She was the 
daughter of a reputable artist, and was born at Bologna about 1640. 
She was certainly very industrious, since one of her biographers 
names one hundred and fifty pictures and etchings made by her, and 
all these must have been done within a period of about ten years. 

She was a good imitator of the sweet, attractive manner of Guido 
Reni, and the heads of her Madonnas and Magdalens have a charm 
of expression which leaves nothing to be desired in that respect ; 
and, indeed, all that she did proves the innate grace and refinement 
of her oavu nature. Much has been said of the ease and rapidity 
with which she worked ; and one anecdote relates that on an occasion 
when it happened that the Duchess of Brunswick, the Duchess of 
Mirandola, and Duke Cosimo de' Medici, with other persons, all met 
at her studio, she astonished and delighted them by the ease and 
skill with which she sketched and shaded drawings of the subjects 
which one after another named to her. 

"When twenty years old, she had completed a large picture of 
"The Baptism of Christ." Her picture of Saint Anthony adoring 
the Virgin and Child, in the Pinacotheca of Bologna, is very much 
admired, and is probably her masterpiece. 

The story of her life, aside from her art, gives an undying 
interest to her name, and insures her remembrance for all time. 
In person she was beautiful, and the sweetness of her character and 
manner won for her the love of all those who were associated with 
her. She was also a charming singer, and was ever ready to give 
pleasure to her friends. Her admiring biographers also commend 
her taste in dress, which was very simple; and they even go so far 



156 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

as to praise her for her moderation in eating! She was well skilled 
in all domestic matters, and would rise at daybreak to perform her 
lowly household duties, never allowing her art to displace the 
homely occupations which properly, as she thought, made a part of 
her life. 

Elisabetta Sirani's name has come down through two hundred and 
seventeen years as one whose "devoted filial affection, feminine 
grace, and artless benignity of manner added a lustre to her great 
talents, and completed a personality which her friends regarded as 
an ideal of perfection." 

The sudden death of this artist has added a tragic element to 
her story. The cause of it has never been known, but the theory 
that she died from poison has been very generally accepted. Several 
reasons for this crime have been given: one is. that she was sacri- 
ficed to the jealousy of other artists, as Ponienichino had been : 
another belief was that a princely lover, whom she had treated with 
scorn, had taken her life because she had dared to place herself, in 
her lowly station, above his rank and power. 

A servant girl named Lucia Tolomelli, who had been long in 
the service of the Sirani family, was suspected and tried for this 
crime. She was sentenced to banishment : hut after a time 
Elisabetta's father requested that Lucia should be allowed to return, 
as he had no reason for believing her guilty. And so the mystery 
of the cause of her death has never been solved: but its effecl 
upon the whole city of Bologna, where it occurred, is a matter of 
history. 

The entire people felt a personal loss in Elisabetta's death, and the 
day of her burial was one of general mourning. The ceremonies >>t 
her funeral were attended with great pomp, and she was buried beside 
her master, Guido Reni, in the chapel of Om- Lady of the Rosary, 
in the masnificent Church of the Dominicans. Poets and orators 



STOEIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 157 

vied with, one another in sounding her praises ; and a book pub- 
lished soon after her death, called " II Pennello Lagrimato," is a 
collection of orations, sonnets, odes, anagrams, and epitaphs in both 
Latin and Italian, all telling of the love for lier which filled the 
city, and describing the charms and virtues of this gifted artist. 
Her portrait, representing her when painting that of her father, is 
in the Ercolani Gallery at Bologna. According to this picture she 
was beautiful, with a tall and elegant figure. 

The two sisters of Elisabetta, called Barbara and Anna Maria, 
were also artists, but the fame of the first was so great as to over- 
shadow theirs. 



THE NATUEALISTS. 



The character and life of Michael Angelo Amerighi, called Cara- 
vaggio, who was the head of the school of Naturalists at Naples, 
were not such as to make him an attractive study. His manner of 
painting and his choice of subjects together produced what has been 
called " the poetry of the repulsive." Caravaggio was wild in his 
nature and his life. If he painted scenes of a religious character 
they were coarse, though his vivid color and his manner of arranging 
his ficmres were striking in effect. His " Cheating Gamesters " is a 
famous picture, and represents two men playing caixls, while a 
third looks over the shoulder of one, and is apparently advising him 
how to play. 

Next to Caravaggio came Bibera, called Lo Spagnoletto because 
of his Spanish origin. It is said that when very young he had made 
his way to Borne, where he was living in miserable poverty, and 
industriously copying the frescos which he saw all about the public 
places of the city. He attracted the attention of a cardinal, who 
took the boy to his home and made him comfortable. But soon 



158 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Ribera ran away and returned to the vagrant life of the street ; 
the cardinal searched for him, and when at last the boy was brought 
before his Eminence he called him an "ungrateful little Spaniard," 
but at the same time offered to receive him into his house once more. 
Ribera replied that he could not accept, declaring that as soon as he 
was made comfortable and well fed he lost all his ambition and his 
desire to work ; adding that he needed the spur of poverty to make 
him a good artist. 

The cardinal admired Ribera' s courage and resolution, and the story 
being repeated the attention of other artists was attracted to him ; 
and from this time he was known as Lo Spagnoletto. He made 
rapid advances in his style of painting, and later, in Naples, he 
joined with Belisario Corenzio and Gianbattista Caracciolo in the 
plan, to which Ave have referred, of keeping all other artists from 
being employed there. On Ribera rests much of the responsibility 
of the many crimes which were committed in Naples, even if lie 
did not actually do the deeds himself ; and when one sees his works, 
and the horrible, brutal subjects which he studied and represented, 
it is easy to understand how all kindliness of feeling might have 
been crushed out of a man whose thoughts were given to such 
things. He became very rich, and his numerous works are in the 
famous galleries of the world, from Madrid to St. Petersburg. 



FLEMISH ARTISTS. 




FTER the Italian painters, the Flemish artists were next in 
importance. Perhaps they might as well have been called 
Belgian artists, for Flanders was a part of Belgium; 
but as the chief schools of the early Belgian painters were in the 
Flemish provinces of Belgium, the terms "Flemish art" and "Flem- 
ish painters" were adopted, and the latter was applied to Belgian 
artists even when they were not natives of Flanders. 

The chief interest connected with the beginning of the Flemish 
school is in the fact that one of its earliest masters introduced the 
use of oil colors. On account of this great advance in the mechan- 
ical part of painting, there went out from this school an influence 
the benefits of which cannot be overestimated. This influence af- 
fected the schools of the whole world ; and though painting bad 
reached a high point in Italy before the first steps in it were taken 
in Flanders, yet this discovery of the benefit of oil colors laid the 
broadest foundation for the fame and greatness of the Venetian 
and other Italian painters who profited by it. 

HUBERT VAN" EYCK. 

This artist was the eldest of a family of painters. He was born 
in the small market-town of Maaseyck about 1366, after which time 
his family removed to Ghent. He was not made a member of the 
Guild of Painters in Ghent until 1412 ; and we can give no satis- 



1G0 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

factory account of his life previous to that event, which occurred 
when he was forty-six years old. 

From general facts which have been brought together from one 
source and another, it is believed that he attended to the education 
of his brother Jan, his sister Margaret, and his younger brother 
Lambert, all of whom were painters. He devoted his best care to 
Jan, who was twenty years younger than himself. The elder brother 
instructed the younger in drawing, painting, and chemistry, — for 
in the early clays of painting this last study was thought to be neces- 
sary for an artist who used colors. 

There has been much learned discussion as to which of the 
Van Eycks really introduced the use of colors mixed with oil. 
The most reasonable conclusion is that Hubert used these colors. 
and gave his thought and study to the subject of finding better 
tints than had been \ised before; but it remained for dan to 
carry his brother's work to greater perfection, and he thus came 
to be generally known as the inventor or discoverer of the improved 
method. 

But three works still exist which are attributed to Hubert van 
Eyck. The most important of these, and that upon which his fame 
l'ests, is a large altar-piece, which consisted of twelve separate panels. 
This great work Avas done for Judocus Vydt. and the portraits of 
himself and his wife make a part of the altar-piece. As it was 
originally arranged, it had a centre-piece and double folding-doors 
on each side of it ; and when it was open, all the twelve panels 
could be seen. They were divided into two rows, and the subjects 
represented were the Adoration of the Lamb; God the Father; The 
Virgin Mary; John the Baptist: Adam; a group of Singing Angels; 
Eve ; Saint Cecilia, and an Angelic Choir ; The Just Judges ; The 
Soldiers of Christ ; The Holy Hermits, and the Holy Pilgrims. 

This great collection of pictures, which was intended for the 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 161 

Cathedral of St. Bavon at Ghent, was not finished when Hubert 
died, in 1426, and was completed by Jan in 1432. It was so much 
valued that it was shown only on festival days, but after a time 
it was divided, and but two central panels now remain in St. 
Bavon ; other portions of it are in the museums of Brussels and 
Berlin. 

Philip II. of Spain was anxious to buy this altar-piece, and 
when that could not be done, he had a copy made lay Michael Coxcien. 
That painter devoted two years to the task, and was paid four thou- 
sand florins for his work. This copy is also in separate galleries, 
three lars;e figures beins; in the Pinakothek at Munich. 

It seems very strange that so few pictures can be said to have 
been painted by Hubert van Eyck, for he lived to old age and 
must have finished many works ; but such troublous times came 
to Belgium, and so many towns were sacked, that vast numbers 
of art treasures were lost and destroyed, and no doubt the pictures 
of Hubert van Eyck perished in this way. 

No work of its time was better than the Ghent altar-piece : its 
composition and color were of the best then known ; the figures 
were painted in a broad, grand style ; the landscapes were admirable, 
and the whole was finished with the careful delicacy of a master 
in painting. 

Hubert was buried in a crypt beneath the chapel of the Vydt 
family. The arm which had guided his brush was cut off and sus- 
pended above the portal of the Church of St. Bavon, where it re- 
mained during many years. 

The inscription above his grave is so quaint that it is interesting. 
" Take warning from me, ye who walk over me ; I was as you 
are, but am now buried and dead beneath you. Thus it appears 
that neither art nor medicine availed me ; art, honor, wisdom, power, 
affluence, are spared not when death arrives. I was called Hubert 



162 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

van Eyck, I am now food for worms. Formerly known and highly 
honored in painting, — this all was shortly turned to nothing. It 
was in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and twenty- 
six, on the 18th day of September, that I rendered up my soul to 
God, in suffering. Pray God for me, ye who love art, that I may 
attain to His sight. Flee sin, turn to the best [objects], for you 
must follow me at last." 



JAN VAN EYCK. 

This artist brought the discoveries of his brother to greater perfec- 
tion, and became a very famous man. We have reason to think that 
the value of oils had been known to painters for a long time in one 
way and another, and a dark resinous varnish had been in use. l!m 
the Van Eycks found a way to purify the varnish and make it 
clear and colorless; they also mixed their colors with oil, instead 
of the gums and other substances which had been employed. By 
these means they made their pictures much richer and clearer in 
color than those of other painters. 

Antonello da Messina, an Italian painter, happened to see a pic- 
ture by Jan van Eyck, which had been sent to Naples. He imme- 
diately determined to go to Flanders to try to learn the secret of 
the color used in this painting. He became the pupil of Jan van 
Eyck, and remained near him as long as he lived. On his mas- 
ter's death Antonello went to Messina, but shortly after settled in 
Venice, where he became very popular as a portrait-painter. The 
nobility flocked to him for their portraits, and everywhere his beau- 
tiful color was praised. At first his whole manner showed the effect 
of his association with Jan van Eyck; but soon his Italian nature 
wrought a change in his style of painting, though his color remained 
the same. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 163 

We are told that Antonello revealed his secret only to Domenico 
Veneziano, his favorite pupil, who went to Florence to live, and 
thus made the fame of the new mode of color known in that city. 
It is also said that Giovanni Bellini went to Antonello in disguise 
and sat for his portrait, and thus had the opportunity to watch 
his process and learn how he prepared his paints. But a far more 
reasonable story is told by the art-writer Lanzi, who says that the 
rulers of Venice gave Antonello a pension, in consideration of which 
he made his process known to all artists. 

Thus you see that I had good reason for saying that the Van 
Eycks laid a broad foundation for the great fame of those Italians 
who excelled in color. These early Flemish masters first used the 
oil colors. Antonello learned their use from Jan van Eyck ; then 
going to Venice, Antonello influenced the Bellini, and from them 
the next step brought out the perfect coloring of Giorgione and 
Titian, for the latter was a young man at the time of Antonello' s 
death. It is curiously interesting thus to trace the effect of the 
study of Hubert van Eyck upon an art of which he knew almost 
nothing, and which differed so much from his own. 

Let us now return to Jan van Eyck. He had a more prosperous 
life than his brother Hubert, for he became the favorite of royal 
patrons, and was rapidly advanced in fame and riches. He was 
not only a court artist, but an ambassador; on several occasions 
he executed secret missions to the satisfaction of Philip the Good, 
Duke of Burgundy, in whose service he was thus employed. In 
1428 his patron sent him to Portugal to paint the portrait of the 
Princess Isabella, whom the Duke proposed to marry for his third 
wife. After the portrait was completed, the painter made a pleasure 
trip through Portugal and a part of Spain; he visited the Alham- 
bra, and received flattering attentions wherever he paused in his 
journey. 



164 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Meantime the portrait had been Bent to Bruges for the inspec- 
tion of the Duke; the messengers returned with an assent to the 
marriage, which took place by proxy, in July, and was followed by 
gayeties and feastings until September, when the bride with her 
brothers embarked for Belgium. A fearful storm tossed the four- 
teen vessels of the fleet here and there, and finally the Princess was 
landed in England, and did not reach Bruges until Christmas Day. 
Then the marriage was celebrated with great pomp, and .Ian van 
Eyck was paid a handsome sum for his services in bringing about 
this happy result. 

Duke Philip was fond of Jan van Eyck, and was in the habit 
of visiting his studio and treating him as an equal ; lie was also 
very liberal in his gifts to the painter. 

The works of Jan van Eyck are to lie seen in the museum- of 
Europe. His portraits are admirable, and his fondness for this kind 
of painting caused him, almost unconsciously, to give tin' figures in 
his subject-pictures the appearance of portraits. He painted draper- 
ies and all sorts of stuffs well; he liked to introduce landscapes 
as the background of historical pictures, and he is known to have 
painted one landscape with no other subject introduced. One pic- 
ture by Jan van Eyck, which is in the National Gallery. London, 
is said to have been bought by the Princess Mary, sister of Charles V. 
and Governess of the Netherlands. She gave to the barber who 
had owned it, as the price of this work, a position worth one hundred 
gulden (about forty dollars) a year. 

However, I must tell you that important as these 1 early Flemish 
pictures are in the history of Art, I do not think that, they would 
please your taste as well as the works of the Italian masters of 
whom I have already written in this series of papers. The Flemish 
artists were far more realistic than the early Italian painters ; they 
tried to paint objects just as they saw them, without throwing the 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 165 

charming grace of imagination about their subjects ; they lacked 
ideality, which is a necessity to an artist, as it is to a poet, and 
for this reason there was a stiffness and hardness in their pictures 
which we do not find in the works of Raphael or Titian. 

QUINTIN MASSYS, OR MATSYS. 

In time the Flemish painters grew more individual, and there 
was a greater variety in their works. Some of them travelled in 
foreign countries, and thus learned to modify their manner in a 
measure, though their nationality was always shown in their pic- 
tures. At length a powerful artist appeared in Quintin Massys, or 
Matsys, who may be called the founder of the Antwerp school of 
painters ; he was the greatest Belgian master of his time. 

Quintin was born at Antwerp about 1460, and although he was 
descended from a family of painters, in his youth he chose the trade 
of a blacksmith, and works in wrought-iron are shown in Antwerp 
and Louvain which are said to have been made by him. When 
about twenty years old, he fell in love with the young daughter 
of an artist. He asked her father's permission to marry her, but 
was refused on account of his trade, — the father declaring: that the 
daughter should marry no one but a painter. 

Quintin forthwith forsook the anvil, and devoted himself to the 
palette and brush. We cannot trace all his course, nor tell exactly 
by what method he proceeded; but it is certain that he became a 
great painter. He died, in 1529, in the Carthusian Convent at 
Antwerp, and was buried in the convent cemetery. A century later 
Cornelius van der Geest removed his remains, and reburied them 
in front of the Cathedral. One part of the inscription which com- 
memorates his life and work declares that "Love converted the 
Smith into an Apelles." 



106 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Massys' greatest work was an altar-piece in three parts, which 
is now in the Museum of Antwerp. His manner of representing 
sacred subjects shows a tender earnestness, which recalls the deep 
religious feeling of earlier painters. In his representations of the 
common occurrences of life he was very happy: lovers, frightful old 
women, misers, and money-changers grew under his brush with great 
truthfulness. His own portrait and that of his second wife are in 
the Uffizi Gallery at Florence. One of his most celebrated pictures 
is "The Miser," at Windsor Castle. The works of Massys are seen 
in all the principal galleries of Europe, and those that are well worthy 
of notice number about seventy. 

This painter may be said to have been the last artist of the 
period which preceded him, and the first of that which followed ; 
for from his time the Antwerp school rapidly grew in importance. 
Massys was followed by the Breughels, who painted scenes from 
ever} T -day life with startling reality: by the Pourbuses, whose por- 
traits, after the lapse of three centuries, are still famous ; by Paul 
Bril and his charming landscapes; by many other important paint- 
ers, whose pictures are among the art treasures of the world, and 
lastly by 

PETER PAUL RUBENS. 

Tins man, who was a learned scholar and an accomplished dip- 
lomat as well as a great painter, was born at Siegen in 1~>77. His 
father was one of the two principal magistrates of the city of Ant- 
werp, and his mother, whose name was Mary Pypeling, belonged 
to a distinguished family. When the artist was burn, his family 
had been forced to leave Antwerp on account of a civil war which 
was then raging; his birthday, the 29th of June, was the feast of 
Saints Peter and Paul, and from this circumstance he was christened 
with the names of the two great Apostles. 




PETER PAUL RUBENS. (FROM A PORTRAIT PAINTED BY HIMSELF.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 169 

Rubens was a scholar from his early days, and his talent for 
drawing soon decided him to be a painter. He studied his art first 
in the school of Adam van Noort, where he was thoroughly trained 
in the first rudiments of painting ; later he was four years in the 
studio of Otho Vaenius, whose cultivated mind and taste were of 
great advantage to the young man. 

After the death of his father, Rubens's mother returned to Ant- 
werp, and in 1598 he was admitted a member of the Guild of 
Painters of that city. In 1600 he went to Italy, and after studying 
the masterpieces of Titian and other Venetian painters, he pro- 
ceeded to Mantua ; here he was appointed Gentleman of the Bed- 
chamber by the Duke Vincenzio Gonzaga, to whom the Archduke 
Albert, the Governor of the Netherlands, had given him letters of 
recommendation. 

Rubens remained two years at the court of Mantua. He then 
visited Venice a second time ; and after his return to Mantua he exe- 
cuted some pictures, which so pleased the Duke that he sent the 
young artist to Rome to make copies of some of the most famous 
works in the Eternal City. 

In 1605 the Duke of Mantua recalled Rubens from Rome, and 
soon sent him to Spain on an important political mission. Here 
the court painter showed himself worthy of the trust reposed in 
him, and proved himself a skilful diplomatist ; his unusual personal 
charms predisposed all whom he met in his favor. 

After his return from Spain Rubens went again to Rome, where 
he had a commission to decorate the tribune of the Church of Santa 
Maria, in Valicella. From Rome he proceeded to Genoa, and there 
found more occupation, for his fame had already reached that city. 
It seems a wonder that a Flemish artist should have been thus 
honored in Italy, and even in Rome, where so many grand and 
matchless works of art existed. 



170 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

"When Rubens had been absent from Antwerp seven years, he 
heard of the illness of his mother and hastened home, but too late 
to find her living. Soon after, in 1609, he married Isabella Brant. 
and built himself a house and studio. It was here that he made 
a large and valuable collection of objects of art of various kinds ; 
a portion of it only was sold after his death, at private sale, for 
more than twenty thousand pounds sterling (a hundred thousand 
dollars). His wife lived but seventeen years, and during this pe- 
riod Rubens executed a large part of the masterpieces which have 
made his fame world-wide, and which now hold honorable places in 
the finest galleries of Europe. 

During the years spoken of above Rubens had many pupils, 
and his studio was a hive of industry ; in order to keep up his 
mental training, and not allow his constant occupation to lessen his 
intellectual vigor, he was accustomed to have some one read aloud 
to him while he painted. Books of poetry and history were the 
most pleasing to his taste, and as he could read and speak seven 
languages, he was acquainted with both ancient and modern authors. 
Doubtless these readings, and the knowledge of the affairs. of the. 
world which he gained from them, had much to do with making 
Rubens the accomplished ambassador which he became. 

In 1620 Marie de Medicis sent for Rubens to come to her in 
Paris ; she there commissioned him to represent the history of her 
life in a series of twenty-one pictures. The pictures which, with 
the aid of his pupils, he made for the Queen of Henry IV. arc now 
in the gallery of the Louvre. They may be described as mythologi- 
cal portraiture, since many of the faces in them are portraits, while 
the subjects represented are mythological. 

In 1628 Rubens was sent to Spain on a second political mission, 
and while there he executed many important works. Upon his 
return to Flanders he was made special ambassador to England, with 




KUBENS'S CHILDREN. (FROM A PAINTING BY HIMSELF.) 



STORIES OF AET AND ARTISTS. 173 

the object of effecting a peace between that country and his own. 
This he was successful in accomplishing, and became the friend of 
Charles I., who knighted him, as did also the King of Spain. 

In 1630 Rubens was married to his second wife, Helen Fourment, 
a niece of his first wife, who had died four years before. Helen 
was but sixteen years old at the time of her marriage, and the 
artist was fifty-three ; she bore him five children, and after his 
death was again married. Rubens made so many portraits of his 
wives, and so often introduced them into his religious and histor- 
ical pictures, that their forms and faces are familiar to all the 
world. 

After his successful mission to England, Rubens was treated with 
great consideration in Flanders. Indeed, his position had been all 
that he could desire for many years ; his society was courted by 
scholars, nobles, and even sovereigns ; by beautiful women and brave 
men. He lived in luxury, and constantly added to his collection 
of art objects, of which we have spoken. He now suffered much 
from gout, and was obliged to confine his labors to easel pictures. 

Rubens died in 1640, and was buried in his private chapel in 
the Church of St. James. This chapel contains one of his most 
famous pictures, in which he is represented as Saint George, his wives 
being Saints Martha and Magdalene ; on one side is his niece, and 
in the midst his father as Saint Jerome, while the figure represent- 
ing Time is a portrait of his grandfather. Rubens painted this pic- 
ture especially for the family chapel. Above the altar there is a 
statue of the Virgin Mary, which the painter himself brought from 
Italy. 

As a painter there seems to be but one adjective descriptive of 
Rubens: "magnificent" alone expresses the effect of his color. His 
system of levelling his subject to his style was unapproachable, though 
it must be confessed that he sometimes condescended to be gross 



174 

or vulgar. 



STORIES OF AET AND ARTISTS. 



In painting, his genius was certainly universal. The 
works ascribed to him number about eighteen hundred, and include 
historical, scriptural, and mythological subjects, — portraits, animals, 
landscapes, and every-day life. Of course, in the execution of such 




THE BOY RUBENS AT HIS WORK. 



a number of pictures he must have been aided by his pupils, but 
there is something characteristic of himself in all of them. 

In his style he is a strange and delightful combination of northern 
and southern art. His manner of painting and his arrangement of his 
subject are Italian ; his figures, even when they represent Christ and 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 175 

the most holy men, are in reality German peasants, Spanish kings, or 
somebody else whom he has seen. He mingles in odd combination 
earthly princes, antique mythical personages, ancient gods, and the 
members of the family of Marie de Medicis, and dresses them all in 
the latest fashion of his time, and in the most becoming colors ! And 
is not this very mixture magnificently strange ? 

However, if one would enjoy to the utmost many of the works of 
Rubens, he should forget the names by which they are called, and 
regard each figure as a separate portrait ; then his power is felt. 
Above all, in the picture which hangs above his tomb, forget that it 
represents any subject, and look only for the portraits of his two wives. 
How charming they are ! — the one so brilliant and energetic, the other 
so shy and thoughtful ; each magnificent in her own way. But if you 
regard it as an " Adoration of the Virgin," as it is called, it will seem 
as if the spirits of Fra Angelico and other holy painters stood around 
you, helping you to remember how the brush that is guided by faith 
and prayer can depict spiritual and holy subjects, and aiding you to 
distinguish between the work of Rubens and that of a purer type. 
When one begins to speak of this artist, there is much that may be 
said ; but I have suggested his chief characteristics and have space for 
no more. 

His " Descent from the Cross," in the Antwerp Cathedral, is 
considered his greatest work. The Company of Archers gave the 
order for this picture in 1611, and it was completed and put in its 
place three years later. The masterly composition and the elevated 
expression of the heads, joined to its breadth of execution and excellence 
of finish, make it a wonderful work. 

Perhaps his most charming pictures are his representations of chil- 
dren ; it must be that he painted them because he loved to do it. 
Many people regard his portraits as his best works ; certainly they are 
beyond praise, and very numerous. A portrait of Helen Fourment 



176 STORIES OF ART AND AETISTS. 

walking with a page, — the famous "Chapeau de Paille," — the two 

sons of Rubens, and the so-called "Four Philosophers" in the Pitti 

Gallerv. are among the most celebrated. 

His landscapes were fine, even when intended only for backgrounds, 

and his representations of animals were by no means less excellent than 

those of many fine artists who devoted all their talent and study to 

those subjects alone. Thus it is evident that it is not too much to 

say that his genius in painting was universal ; and when we remember 

bis other attainments and accomplishments, we can hut admire this 

great Flemish artist, and feel that of him, as of Goldsmith's famous 

Schoolmaster it might be said, — 

"And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew 
That one small head could carry all he knew." 



FKANS SNYDEKS. 

Tnis artist, though much less famous than Rubens, was so much 
the friend of the latter and so associated with him. that I wish to 
speak of him here. Snyders was born at Antwerp in 1579, two 
years later than the birth of Rubens. He was a pupil of Hell Breughel 
and Van Balen, and the intimate friend of Vandyck, who painted 
his portrait. 

Snyders became a very famous painter of animals, and especially 
excelled in representing them in action. He could catch the most 
exciting moment of combat or of the chase ; and in whatever way 
he chose to picture them, whether in single figures or groups, his 
truthfulness in details and bis exact reproduction of special charac- 
teristics was such as could rarely be equalled, and probably was never 
excelled. 

Philip IV. of Spain gave many commissions to Siryders, and his 
works were sought by princes and nobles all over Europe. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



177 




THE BOAR-HUNT. (BY SNYDEBS.) 

He was accustomed to paint animals in the landscapes of Rubens, 
while the latter executed the figures in the works of Snyders. These 
joint works of these two great artists are very valuable, and are seen 
in several European galleries. 



ANTON VANDYCK. 

The greatest painter among the pupils of Rubens was Anton or 
Anthony Vandyck (or Van Dyck, as it is also spelled). He was born 
at Antwerp in 1599. His father was a silk-merchant, and his mother 
was a lady of artistic tastes ; though she had twelve children, she yet 
found time to clo much embroidery and tapestry work. She had a 
daughter named Susannah, and it may have been on account of this 
child that her finest work was a large piece on which the story of 
Susannah was represented. She was occupied with this before the birth 

12 



178 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

of Anthony, who was her seventh child, and during his early years she 
skilfully plied her needle, and wrought her many-colored silks into 
landscapes and skies, trees and houses, men and animals, with untiring 
patience and uncommon excellence. 



HEAD OF A GRANDEE. (FROM A PORTRAIT BY VANDYC'K.) 

It is easy to understand that this mother must have rejoiced to find 
that Anthony had artistic talent, and it is probable that it was through 
her influence that he became a pupil under the artist lleinrich van 
Balen when he was but ten years old. He was still a hoy. not more 
than seventeen, when he entered the studio of Rubens, just at the time 




ANTON VANDYCK. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 181 

when the great master was devoting himself to his art with his whole 
soul, and had a large number of young students under his direction. 

Vandyck soon became the favorite pupil of Rubens, and was early 
allowed to do such work as proved that the great artist even then appre- 
ciated the genius of the brilliant and attractive youth, — for such we 
are told that Vandyck was. Among other things, Rubens intrusted to 
Vandyck the labor of making drawings from his pictures, to be used by 
the engravers who made prints after his works, for which there was 
a great demand at this time. It was necessary that these drawings 
should be very exact, so that the engravings should be as nearly like 
the original works as possible ; and the fact that Vandyck, when still 
so young, was chosen for this important task, proves that he must have 
been unusually skilful and correct in his drawings. 

Rubens left his studio but rarely, and when he did so his pupils 
were in the habit of bribing his old servant to unlock the door of his 
private room, that they might see what the master had done. The 
story goes that on one occasion, just at evening, when Rubens was 
riding, the scholars, as they looked at his work, jostled each other and 
injured the picture, which was not yet dry. They were filled with 
alarm, and feared expulsion from the school. After a consultation they 
begged Vandyck to restore the injured picture. With some hesitation 
he did so, and to the eyes of the pupils it was so well done that they 
counted on escaping discovery. The keen eye of the master, however, 
detected the work of another hand than his own ; he summoned all the 
pupils and demanded an explanation, and when he knew all that had 
happened he made no comment. It has even been said that he was so 
well pleased that he left the picture as Vandyck had restored it. Some 
writers say that this accident happened to the face of the Virgin and 
the arm of the Magdalene, in the great picture of the " Descent from 
the Cross," now in the Antwerp Cathedral ; but we are not at all cer- 
tain of the truth of this statement. 



182 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

In 1618 Vandyck was admitted into the Guild of Painters at 

Antwerp, a great honor to a youth of nineteen. In 1020 Rubens 
advanced him from the rank of a pupil to that of an assistant, and in 
1623, when Rubens made a contract to decorate the Jesuit Church at 
Antwerp, a clause was inserted which provided that Vandyck should be 
employed in the work, — showing that he then had a good reputation 
in his native city. It was about 1618 when an agent of the Karl of 
Arundel wrote to his employer: "Vandyck lives with Rubens, and his 
works are beginning; to be almost as much esteemed as those of his 
master. He is a young man of one-and-twenty, with a very rich father 
and mother in this city, so that it will be very difficult to persuade him 
to leave this country, especially since he sees the fortune that Rubens 
is acquiring." 

This hint was enough for the Earl of Arundel, who was a great 
patron of the arts, and he immediately began to make such offers to 
Vandyck as would induce him to go to England. Rubens, on the other 
hand, urged his pupil to go to Italy ; but at last in 1620. while Rubens 
was absent in Paris, Vandyck went to England. Very little is known 
of this his first visit there, beyond the fact that it is recorded in the 
books of the Exchequer that King James I. gave him one hundred 
pounds for some special service ; and again in 1621 the records show 
that Vandyck was called "His Majesty's servant," and was granted 
a pass to travel for eight months. It is not known, however, that 
he went again to England until some years later, when Charles I. was 
king. 

In 1622 Vandyck was invited to the Hague by Frederick of 
Nassau, Prince of Orange. While there he painted some line por- 
traits; but he was suddenly called home by the illness of his father. 
who died soon after his son reached his side. The Dominican Sisters 
had nursed his father with great tenderness, and before his death 
he obtained a promise from Anthony to paint a picture for the 




PORTRAIT OF CHARLES I. (BY VANDYCK.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 185 

Sisterhood. Seven years later he fulfilled his promise, by painting a 
Crucifixion, with Saint Dominick and Saint Catherine near by. There 
was a rock at the foot of the cross, on which he placed this curious 
inscription in Latin : " Lest the earth should be heavy upon the 
remains of his father, Anthony van Dyck moved this rock to the 
foot of the cross, and gave it to this place." In 1785 this picture 
was bought for the Academy of Antwerp, where it now is. 

Eubens advised Vandyck to devote himself especially to portrait- 
painting, and it has been said that he did this because he was jeal- 
ous of the great talent of his pupil. But time has proved that it 
was the wisest and most friendly counsel that could have been given 
him. As a portrait-painter Vandyck ranks beside Titian, and they 
two excel all others in that special art, — in the period, too, when 
it reached the highest excellence it has ever known. 

When Vandyck was ready to go to Italy he made a farewell visit 
to Rubens, and presented him with three of his pictures. One of 
these, " The Romans Seizing Christ in the Garden of Cethsemane," 
Rubens hung in the principal room of his house, and was never weary 
of praising it. The master returned his pupil's generosity by pre- 
senting him with one of his finest horses. Vandyck made his first 
stop at Savelthem, a village near Brussels. Here he fell in love 
with a girl named Anna van Ophem, and forgot Italy and his art 
while gazing in her face and wandering by her side through the 
fair valley in which she dwelt. But Anna regretted his idleness, 
and was curious to see the pictures that he could paint. Finally, 
he yielded to her persuasions, and painted two pictures for the parish 
church of Savelthem. 

One of these was a " Holy Family," in which the Virgin was 
a portrait of Anna, while Saint Joachim and Saint Anna represented 
her father and mother. This picture he gave to the church. It 
has long since disappeared, and it is said that it was used to make 



186 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

grain-bags by French foragers. The second picture, for which he 
was paid, represented Saint Martin of Tours, when he divided his 
cloak with two beggars. The saint was a portrait of Vandyck him- 
self, and the horse he rode was painted from that which Rubens 
had given him. This picture was very dear to the people of Savel- 
them ; and when in 1758 they discovered that the parish pries! 
had agreed to sell it, they armed themselves with pitchforks and 
other homely weapons, and surrounding the church, insisted thai 
the picture should not be removed. In 1806, however, they were 
powerless before the French soldiers; and though they loved their 
saint as dearly as ever, he was borne away to Paris and placed in 
the gallery of the Louvre, where he remained until 1815, when lie 
was taken again to Savelthem and restored to his original place. 
It is also said that in 1850 a rich American offered twenty thou- 
sand dollars to any one who would bring this picture to him, no 
matter how it was obtained. Some rogues tried to steal it. hut the 
watch-dogs of Savelthem barked so furiously that the men of the 
village were alarmed, and rushed to the church so quickly that the 
robbers scarcely escaped. Since then a guard sleeps in the church, 
and Saint Martin is undisturbed, and may always be seen there di- 
viding his cloak and teaching the lesson of that Christian charity 
for which his own life was remarkable. 

When Rubens heard of this long stay in Savelthem he was much 
displeased, and wrote to Vandyck such letters as induced him to 
go to Venice, where he studied the portraits of Giorgione and Titian 
with great profit. His industry was untiring, and he made many 
copies, besides painting some original pictures. From Venice Van- 
dyck went to Genoa, where Rubens had formerly been so much 
admired that his pupil was sure to be well received. Being wel- 
comed for his master's sake, he soon made himself beloved for his 
own; for Vandyck was elegant and refined in his manners, and 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 189 

these qualities, in addition to his artistic powers, gained for him all 
the patronage that he desired. Many of the portraits which he then 
painted in Genoa are still seen in its splendid palaces. 

When Vandyck went to Rome, he was invited by the Cardinal 
Bentivoglio to make one of his family. This prelate had been a 
papal ambassador in Flanders, and had a fondness for the country 
and its people. He was therefore very friendly to Vandyck, and 
employed him to paint a Crucifixion, as well as a portrait of himself. 
This portrait is now one of the treasures of the Pitti Gallery, in 
Florence. A copy made by John Smybert, a Scotch artist, who came 
to Boston early in the last century, hangs in one of the halls of 
Harvard College. 

Vandyck found that the Flemish artists in Rome were a rude 
and uncongenial company, and he avoided their society. This so 
affronted them that they became his enemies, and he shortened his 
stay in Rome on that account, returning to Genoa two years 
after he had left it. There he found a charming friend in Sofonisba 
Anguisciola. She had been a noted painter, and though she was 
now blind and ninety-one years old, Vandyck was accustomed to 
say that he learned more of the principles of art from her than from 
the works of the most celebrated masters. Vandyck visited Palermo, 
Turin, Florence, and other -cities, but spent most of his time in Genoa 
until 1626, when he returned to Antwerp. 

It was some time before the artist met with any success at home 
which at all compared with that he had achieved in Italy. In 1628 
he received an order for a picture of " Saint Augustine in Ecstasy," 
for the Church of the Augustines in Antwerp. He painted the saint 
in light vestments, whereupon the brotherhood insisted that they 
should be changed to black. This so interfered with the distribution 
of the light that the whole effect of the picture was spoiled. 

Again he was employed to paint a picture for the church at 



190 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Courtrai. It is said that the canons insisted upon seeing the work 
before it was raised to its place; and not being aide to judge of 
what it would be when hung, they were not pleased with it. They 
called Vandyck a "dauber," and left him. Altera time they found 
that they had made a mistake, and asked Vandyck to paint two 
other pictures for them, but he replied: "There are already daubers 
enoush in Courtrai without summoning those of Antwerp," ami took 
no further notice of them. This story, however interesting, does 
not accord with the fact that one of his finest works is the " Ele- 
vation of the Cross," still in the Church of Notre Dame at Courtrai. 
It has been called " one of the most admirable masterpieces that 
the art of painting has ever produced." 

During the five years that Vandyck remained in Flanders ami 
Holland, he painted almost numberless portraits of royal and distin- 
guished persons, as well as more than thirty religious pictures for 
churches and public places in the Low Countries. The value of many 
of these works is now almost fabulous. On one occasion Vandyck 
was at Haarlem, the home of Franz Hals, a noted Dutch portrait- 
painter. Vandyck went to his studio, but, as usual. Hals was at 
the tavern. Vandyck sent for him, saying that a stranger wished 
his portrait painted, and had but two hours to stay for it. Hals 
seized a canvas and finished the picture within the given time. Van- 
dyck praised it warmly, and said: ''Painting seems such a simple 
thing that I should like to try what I can do at it." Hals changed 
places with him, and the visitor painted the second portrait as quickly 
as the first had been made. "When Hals saw the picture, he embraced 
the painter and cried : " You are Vandyck ! No other could do what 
you have now done ! " 

It is also related of Vandyck that lie was once summoned to the 
palace of a certain bishop to paint the prelate's portrait. The artist 
sent his painting implements to the porter, and when he arrived 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



191 



was shown into the presence of his lordship, who was stretched on 
a sofa, and scarcely deigned to notice the artist's entrance. Van- 
dyck took a seat, when the bishop exclaimed : " Are you not come 
to make my portrait?" "I am at the service of your Eminence," 




PORTRAIT OF PETER BRUEGEL. (FROM AN" ETCHING BY VANDYCK.) 



replied Vandyck. " Then why do you not get your implements ? " 
asked the bishop ; " do you expect me to bring them for you ? " 
To this Vandyck calmly answered, " Since you have not ordered 
your servants to bring them, I supposed that you wished to render 
me that service yourself." Then the bishop started up saying, 
" Anthony, Anthony ! you are a little asp, but you have much venom." 



192 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Vandyck hastened to the door, and turning on the threshold said, 
"My lord Van der Burch, you are a voluminous personage, I ait you 
resemble the tree which bears the cinnamon; the bark is the best 
part of you ! " 

In 1G32, after many preliminaries, Vandyck was called to the 
service of Charles I. of England. He was welcomed by the King, 
who appointed him court-painter, with a salary of £200 a year, and 
three months after his arrival in London conferred on him the honor 
of knighthood. From the day he reached England, Vandyck was 
the fashion there. His elegant and courtly manners, and his style 
of living when in Rome, had gained for him the title of " // pittore 
Cavalieresco " (the noble or generous painter), and now again, in Eng- 
land, he indulged in lavish hospitality. He often entertained his 
sitters at dinner, in order to study their expression ; even the King 
visited his house without ceremony. He was liberal to musicians 
and men of genius, and made himself popular with many classes. 
As the result of all this, his studio became the resort of men of rank. 
and in fact a visit to Vandyck was of all things most desirable to 
the fashionables of the day. Men and women of rank and influ- 
ence vied with each other for the privilege of being his sitters, until 
a list of the portraits which he painted is an endless repetition of 
titles and notable names. 

Vandyck's free living led him deeply into debt, and he was con- 
stantly in need of money, while his habits of life undermined his 
health and made him very low in spirits. It is said that with the hope 
of increasing his fortune he spent much time over chemicals, trying 
to discover the philosopher's stone, which he believed would bring 
him limitless gold. The poisonous gases which he thus inhaled 
injured his already weakened health, and the King and his friends 
became alarmed lest he should die. 

At length the King resolved to persuade Vandyck to marry. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 193 

and selected a beautiful Scotch girl, who had a position in the 
household of the Queen, as a suitable wife for him. Her name was 
Maria Ruthven, and she was a granddaughter of the Earl of Gowrie. 
Very little is known of the married life of the artist, but there is 
nothing to indicate that it was not a happy one. He had one child, 
a daughter, called Justiniana. 

It is probable that Vandyck had frequently visited Antwerp 
while living in England. We know that in 1631 he was chosen 
Dean of the Confraternity of St. Luke in his native city, and a great 
feast was celebrated on that occasion ; and when in 1610 he took his 
bride there, the members of the Academy of Painting and many others 
received them with distinguished attention. 

In spite of all he had done, Vandyck' s highest ambition as a painter 
had never been satisfied. He had lono; cherished a desire to do some 
great historical painting. At one time he had hoped to decorate the 
walls of the banqueting-hall at the palace of Whitehall. The ceiling 
had splendid pictures by Rubens, and Vandyck proposed to perfect the 
whole by portraying the history of the order of the Garter beneath the 
work of his master. Charles was pleased with the idea, and asked 
Vandyck to make his sketches ; but the King finally abandoned the 
scheme, much to the regret of the artist. 

While he was at Antwerp with his wife, Vandyck learned that 
Louis XIII. was about to decorate the large saloon of the Louvre. He 
hastened to Paris in the hope that he might obtain the commission for 
the work, but when he arrived he found that it had already been given 
to Poussin. Greatly disappointed, he returned to England, to find the 
royal family, whom he knew and loved so well, overwhelmed with mis- 
fortune. In March, 1641, the Queen fled to France, while the King and 
his sons took refuge at York. In May the Earl of Strafford was exe- 
cuted, and all these disasters, added to his previous disappointments and 
the fact that the arts which Charles I. had cherished were already fallen 

13 



194 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

into dishonor, brought upon the artist a disease which proved to be fatal. 
He continued, however, to paint until within a few days of his death, 
and it was but eight days before that event that his daughter was born 
and he made his will. 

When the King returned to London, in spite of all his own troubles 
and cares, he found time to be true to his friendship for Vandyek. 
He offered his physician £300 if he could save the artist's life ; but 
nothing could be done, and he died at his home in Blackfriars, De- 
cember 9, 1641, at the early age of forty-two years. It is said that 
his funeral was attended by many nobles and artists. He was buried 
in the Cathedral of St. Paul, near the tomb of John of Gaunt. When 
St. Paul's was burned, the remains of Vandyek were probably scattered. 
When the grave of Benjamin West was prepared in the crypts of the 
new St. Paul's, Vandyck's coffin plate was discovered there. 

The pictures of Vandyek are so numerous that we can here say 
almost nothing of them. They embrace a great variety of subjects, ami 
are found in nearly all large or good collections. He left some etchings, 
also, which are executed with great spirit. I have said that as a portrait- 
painter he is almost unrivalled ; as a painter of other subjects he had 
also great merits. He had not the power of invention of his master 
Rubens, and could not seize upon terrible moments and important inci- 
dents to give them the power which the pictures of Rubens have ; but 
Vandyek gave an intensity of expression to his faces and an elevation 
to their emotions which excelled his master. His drawing was more 
correct, and his feeling for Nature more refined ; so that, taken all in 
all, perhaps the master and pupil were very nearly equal as painters, 
though they differed in the qualities of their talent, 

Vandyek may be said to have painted in three different styles. 
The first was that of a rich and mellow color, which he acquired after 
visiting Italy to study the works of Titian and others. Sir Joshua 
Reynolds said of this style, " It supposes the sun in the room." The 



STORIES OF AET AND ARTISTS. 195 

second is seen in the silvery color of Ms English pictures ; they are 
brilliant and delicate at the same time that they are solid and firm in 
their execution. His third style is that of his latest works, when 
poor health and low spirits caused him to be careless, and to give but 
little attention to their sentiment or execution. 

Among Vandyck's most distinguished portraits are those of Charles I. 
and his family. Perhaps the most pleasing of these is the picture of the 
three children of the King, — a subject which Vanclyck several times 
repeated. One of these is in the gallery of Turin, others at Dresden 
and Berlin, and a small one at the Louvre, in Paris. His equestrian 
portraits are noble works, and many of his full-length figures exist in 
various galleries. The most magnificent collection in any one place is 
that of Windsor Castle, in possession of the Queen. It consists of 
thirty-nine pictures, all but three being portraits of single figures or 
groups. 

The prices that are now paid for the works of Vanclyck, on the 
rare occasions when they are sold, are enormous. A portrait of Anne 
Cavendish, Lady Rich, was sold at the San Donato sale, in Florence, in 
1880, to Mr. Berners, for thirty thousand dollars. In 1876 a few of 
his etchings were sold in Brussels ; and that from a portrait of the 
artist, both portrait and etching being his own work, brought about 
four thousand dollars. 

We have not space to speak here of the historical, mythological, and 
other pictures painted by Vanclyck. Though they are not equal to his 
portraits, they are very interesting, and travellers abroad will see many 
of them in the churches and galleries of Europe. 



PAINTING IN HOLLAND. 




T is not possible to give a clear account of the earliest paint- 
ers of Holland, or of the Dutch School, as it is called. It is 
certain that they executed wall-paintings and other works 
which have been destroyed; and we know that in the beginning the 
Dutch masters painted devotional subjects almost without exception. 
About the year 1580 the famous school of Dutch portrait-painters had 
its origin, and soon after, scenes from common life, or genre subjects, 
became the favorite works of Dutch artists and their patrons. As time 
passed on, there were added to these the pictures of luxurious inte- 
riors, still-life, fruit, flowers, and game, both living and dead. In all 
these subjects the Dutch masters reached great excellence ; for their 
habit was to reproduce exactly what they saw, and to lavish that 
infinite care and labor upon the execution of details which makes the 
perfection of pictures of still-life and kindred subjects. Thus it is 
that no painters have excelled the Dutch in the painting of drapery, 
furniture, glass, metals, satin, and other objects which are made 
beautiful by strong effects of light and shade. Some of the night, or 
candle-light, scenes of this school are unecpialled by any others in the 
world. 

There were, of course, landscape and marine painters as well as 
painters of animals in Holland, who attained high rank in their way J 
but the portraits and still-life subjects are especially characteristic of 
the Dutch School. The latter subjects are of two sorts: the smaller 
number represent scenes from elegant life, which require fine apart- 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 197 

ments for a background, — such as a music-lesson, a ceremonious call, 
a doctor's visit, or some occasion which permits the artist to show his 
skill in painting marbles, woods, china, stuffs, and all sorts of beautiful 
things. The larger number are scenes from peasant life, — fairs and 
fetes, dancing villagers, and rude, ungainly boys, — or interiors of inns 
with coarse boors drinking, smoking, playing cards, or perpetrating 
rude practical jokes. 

There are many famous Dutch masters, but we have time to study 
but one — 



HEM BE AND T VAN EYN, 

tbe greatest painter of his school, and one who may be called pre-emi- 
nent in art by reason of his remarkable excellence in many departments 
of painting and engraving. He was the son of Hermann Gerritszoon 
van Kyn, and was born at Leyden, in 1607. He was sent to school 
when a boy, but he had so little liking for his books that he was soon 
allowed to follow his natural taste, and study art under J. J. van 
Swanenburg ; and when he was about sixteen years old he entered the 
studio of Pieter Lastman at Amsterdam, where he remained but six 
months. He then returned to Leyden, where he spent seven years. 
During this time he studied Nature in all her forms, — the splendid and 
varied scenery about him dividing his attention with the infinite variety 
of human faces which could be seen in the rare old city of Leyden, with 
its university, its free markets, and its ever brilliant festivals. He also 
profited by the exhibitions of foreign pictures which were admitted to 
Leyden only, and by the collections of paintings, jewels, books, choice 
stuffs, and other beautiful objects frecpiently to be seen in the City 
Hall. 

Meantime Eembrandt worked industriously, and by his earliest 
paintings and etchings gained a name which brought him a student (the 



198 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



afterward famous Gerard Dow), and obtained for him various commis- 
sions from the Hague and Amsterdam. 

In 1630, when twenty-three years old, Rembrandt established himself 
in Amsterdam, where he spent the remainder of his days. He soon be- 
came famous, and many students flocked to him, making his life a busy 
one. Here he executed his first large picture, " The Presentation in the 
Temple," now in the Gallery at the Hague. Within two years of his 
settlement at Amsterdam he also painted many smaller pictures, and 




UEMBRAXDT AND HIS WIFE. (FROM AX ETCHING BY REMBRANDT.) 

made at least forty engravings. From this time his career as an artist 
was but one success after another. In 1634 he married Saskia von 
Ulenburg, a very beautiful girl, to whom he was devotedly attached. She 
was of an aristocratic family, an orphan, and had a large fortune in her 
own name. She is represented in so many portraits by her husband 



Jiiw'/ftCDi/iy 




A EABBI. (FEOM AN ETCHING BY REMBRANDT.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 201 

that her face is familiar to all who know his works. Three pictures of 
her, painted during the year of their betrothal, show her in all the 
loveliness of youth, with dazzling complexion, rosy lips, great expressive 
eyes, and auburn hair ; and though later portraits are of a more serious 
cast and have a more matronly bearing, they still represent a joyous, 
happy woman, and may all be called young, since she died before she 
was thirty years old. 

The years of his life that were passed with Saskia were the happiest 
that ever came to Rembrandt. He was beloved, honored, and rich. 
His house was fine, and furnished with exquisite taste. On the first 
floor were the antechamber and salons, with beautiful mirrors, uphols- 
tery and drapery, oaken chests and presses, marble wine-coolers and 
many other rare objects, while the walls were covered with pictures and 
engravings by foreign artists as well as his own works. On the floor 
above were his studios and a great art-chamber, or museum, in which 
was a splendid collection, of which I will speak later. In this beautiful 
home the artist and his wife lived a happy, simple life, devoted to each 
other and to their children, but one of whom outlived his mother, — a 
son, called Titus. 

At her death Saskia left her fortune to her husband, with one 
request, — that he should educate their child and give him a marriage 
portion. But in spite of this, and of his success as an artist and as a 
teacher, — for he had many scholars who paid him well, — Rembrandt 
became poor, and at length, in 1657, his household goods and his fine 
collection were sold at auction to satisfy his creditors. 

The catalogue of this collection is in the Court of Insolvency at 
Amsterdam, and though it is a scanty and hastily written paper, we 
learn much from it concerning the artist's life and tastes. It gives 
a list of a rich collection of weapons, armor, costumes, and utensils of 
different nations ; of a number of antique sculptures, such as the 
Laocob'n, a Cupid, and busts of Homer and Socrates ; of pictures from 



2U2 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

the Dutch and Flemish schools of the earliest times, as well as of such 
Italian masters as Giorgione, Palma Vecchio. Raphael, and Michael 
Angelo. He also had numerous fine engravings from the works of the 

best masters. "A parcel of ancient rags of various colors"' is also sel 
down on this catalogue. This collection is a sufficient explanation of 
Rembrandt's poverty; his passion for these things ran away with him, 
and he bought more than he could afford, sometimes paying very high 
prices; he is said to have given eighty dollars for a small engraving by 
Lucas van Leyden. 

But the chief interest in the matter is, that it proves that though 
Rembrandt had never travelled or studied in foreign countries, he 
had sufficient knowledge of the art of other nations and times to enable 
him to choose his. subjects and bis manner of treating them with a 
complete knowledge of what he was doing. The result shows that he 
wished only to represent what he saw ; but he always seized upon the 
most striking and unusual features of whatever fixed his attention. 

There is always a temptation to say that an unusual thing which we 
see in a picture is not natural ; but when we think about it, and observe 
Nature for that purpose, we find that scarcely anything could be too 
strange to be true ; and this is all the more noticeable when, as in the 
pictures of Rembrandt, the great effects are those of light and shade. 
If one would observe how wonderful these effects are, let him choose 
some landscape which has a variety of objects in it, and study its aspects 
on a dull, cloudy day. With no sun and no shadow how little int ■ 
it has ! But go to the same spot on a bright day. and see how the sun 
will make the clump of trees stand out and look as if each separate twig 
was joyous with life ; seethe brook shimmer like rippling silver where 
the sunlight falls on it. and note how dark and cold it looks in the 
shade; see how black the rock is under the wide-spreading tree, and 
bow the grass, that is like an emerald in the light places, grows dull 
and brown where the sunshine does not reach it '. Could there lie 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 203 

stronger contrasts than those we see, side by side, when we give our 
thought to it ? And is it not strange that we have not always been 
conscious of them ? 

Now, Rembrandt had a quick eye for all these marvellous effects of 
light, and he painted just such things as he had seen, and nothing else. 
In each of his pictures there are particular points upon which to fix 
the eye ; and though the whole is painted with exquisite skill, 
and the smaller details bear examination just as the blades of 
grass and the smallest flowers in a landscape do, we have 
no wish to examine them ; the one great interest holds our 
attention, and we are satisfied with that. The execution of the 
pictures of Rembrandt is marvellous. He painted some very ugly 
and even vulgar pictures ; he disregarded all rules of costume and 
of the fitness of things in many ways ; he joarodied many ideal 
subjects, and he painted scenes, from Scripture history in which he 
put the exact portraits of the coarse and common people about him. 
But in spite of all these faults, his simplicity, truthfulness, and 
earnestness make his pictures masterpieces, and we cannot turn 
away from them carelessly ; they attract us and hold us with a 
powerful spell. 

Rembrandt's style was not always the same. Before 1633 he 
preferred the open daylight, in which every thing was distinctly 
seen, and his flesh tones were warm and clear ; after that time, 
he preferred the light which breaks over certain objects and leaves 
the rest in shade, while his touch became very spirited, and his 
flesh tones were so golden that they were less natural than before. 

Rembrandt's engraving is very famous. He is called the " Prince 
of Etchers." He really established a new school of engraving ; by 
his own genius he invented a process, the charm of which cannot 
be expressed in words. His wonderful use of the effects of light 
and shade is seen in his engravings as well as in his paintings. 



204 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



His etchings are now of great value. The one which represents 
"Christ Healing the Sick" is called the "Hundred Guilder Print," 
because that is the price the master set upon it. Only eight of the 
first proofs of this engraving exist in the world, and live of these 
are in Great Britian. In 1847 one of them was sold hi London 




JOSEPH RELATING IIIS DREAM TO HIS BRETHREN. 
(FROM AN ETCHING BY REMBRANDT.) 



for six hundred dollars; the same copy was again sold in 1807. and 
brought five thousand dollars. The proofs from his portraits of others, 
as well as from the portraits of himself, are also very valuable. 

The works of Rembrandt are so numerous and so important thai 
we cannot speak justly of them in our present space. His pictures num- 
ber about six hundred, and his engravings four hundred; and these in- 



STORIES OF AET AND ARTISTS. 205 

elude not only many subjects, but many variations of these subjects. 
The chief picture of his earliest style is the " Anatomical Lecture," now 
in the Gallery of the Hague. This is remarkable for the splendid 
heads of the Professor and his pupils, and for the foreshortening of 
the body of the dead man which is the subject of the lecture. 

In 1642 Rembrandt painted his largest picture, which is also con- 
sidered as his chief work. It is called the " Night Watch," and is in 
the Amsterdam Museum. It represents a company of guardsmen and 
others issuing from a public building into a space where there are 
many officers, soldiers, musicians, young girls, and other figures, 
the great standard of the city being in the foreground. One 
feels that the portraits of all the principal persons must be good. 
The color is splendid, and the blending of lights and shades is mar- 
vellous in its beauty. He painted other pictures, in which there were 
numbers of portraits of burghers, or men who were connected with 
important institutions and undertakings. 

" The Descent from the Cross " and " The Woman Taken in Adul- 
tery " — both in the National Gallery, London — are among Rembrandt's 
most celebrated pictures of Scriptural subjects. The last is called his 
best cabinet-picture, and was sold for thirty thousand dollars. He 
usually took his models for his Scriptural pictures from among the Jews 
of Amsterdam, and though they were often coarse and ugly, the whole 
feeling of these works was pure and deep, and their spiritual meaning 
was indicated with a simple earnestness that was unsurpassed by any 
artist of his time. 

Rembrandt painted but few pictures from . profane history, and 
his landscapes are rare, but the few that exist are worthy of so great 
a master, of one who so loved everything that God has spread out 
before us in Nature. His scenes from common life are beyond crit- 
icism ; but sometimes his picturing of repulsive things makes us turn 
away, though we must admire the power with which they are painted . 



206 STORIES OF AET AND ARTISTS. 

His portraits were of the highest order, and very numerous; no other 
artist ever made so many portraits of himself, and in them he is 
seen from the days of youthful hope to ripened age. At a sale in 
Paris in 1876. "A Portrait of a Man" by Rembrandt brought 
$3-4,000; at the San Donato sale in 1880, "Lucretia" sold for 
$29,200, " A Portrait of a Young Woman " for $27,000. and others 
for equally large prices. 

After the breaking up of his beautiful home where he had 
lived so happily with Saskia, Rembrandt hired, another house, where 
he remained until his death. His last home was comfortable ; he 
had many friends ; the younger artists respected and admired him ; 
and we have no reason to believe that he was unhappy here, 
and certainly his pictures indicate no failure of his powers or any 
discouragement of feeling. We see rather that with rare excep- 
tions he worked with unceasing energy and vigor. He died in 1669, 
when sixty-two }-ears old, and was buried in the Westerkerk. The 
registered fees of his burial are but fifteen florins. When we consider 
the enormous amount of his artistic work, and remember that it 
was all done in about forty working years, we are tilled with 
wonder and admiration of the determination and genius which could 
accomplish such herculean labors in so masterly a manner. 



PAINTING IN GERMANY 




HE Emperor Charles IV. of Germany, who reigned from 1348 
to 1378, was a great lover and patron of the Fine Arts, and 
in Prague, the capital of Bohemia, a school arose under his 
care which is important in the history of art, since from it what is called 
German art may be dated. We know that the Emperor was very liberal 
and employed Italian artists, as well as those from all parts of Ger- 
many, to work in his favorite Prague ; but little is known of the 
lives of the earliest masters or of the authorship of the few pieces 
of ancient painting which remain. 

There were other early schools of painting at Cologne, Colrnar, 
Ulm, Augsburg, Westphalia, and Nuremberg. Before speaking of the 
great master of the Nuremberg School, I wish to say something of 
Nuremberg itself, which was a very important place during the fifteenth 
and sixteenth centuries, and is still a city of great interest to travellers. 

Nuremberg was a place of consideration even in the time of 
the Emperor Henry IV., who ennobled thirty-eight families there. 
In 1219, Henry V. raised it to the rank of a free imperial city, and 
during the Middle Ages it was very important on account of its 
enormous traffic between the great sea-port of Venice and the coun- 
tries of the East as well as with all northern Europe. Through its 
commerce it became a very rich city, and its burghers established 
manufactories of various sorts, and so built up its trade that skilful 
artisans flocked there, and many discoveries were made which still 
have a great influence in the world. 



208 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

The first paper-mill in Germany was in Nuremberg, and K<>- 
berger's printing-house, with its twenty-four presses, was so attrac- 
tive to authors that they settled at Nuremberg in order the more 
conveniently to oversee the printing of their works. "Watches, called 
'•Nuremberg Eggs," were first made there about 1500; the clarionet 
was also invented there; and church organs were better made in 
Nuremberg than in any other German town. A new composition of 
brass, the air-gun, and wire-drawing machinery were all Nuremberg 
devices. The filigree silver and gold work, the medals, images, seals 
and other artistic jewelry which were made by the fifty master gold- 
smiths who dwelt there, were famous far and wide; and this variety 
of manufactures was increased by Hirschvogel, an artisan who trav- 
elled in Italy and learned to make majolica. His factory, established 
at Nuremberg in 1507, Avas the first in all Germany in which such 
ware was made. It is not certain that playing-cards were invented 
in Nuremberg, but they were manufactured there as early as 1380, 
and cannon were cast there in 1356 ; previous to this they had 
been made of iron bars soldered together lengthwise and held in 
place by hoops. In short, the manufacturers of Nuremberg were 
so widely known as to give rise to a proverb, — 

" Nuremberg's hand 
Goes through every land ; " 

and thus the city had the sort of importance which success and 
wealth bring to a person or a place. 

But as this importance is not the highest and best that can be 
gained, so it was not the most lasting importance of Nuremberg, 
for all this commercial and moneyed prosperity was lost ; but the 
fame which the city acquired on account of its literary men, its 
artists, and their works, still remains. I will not speak here of 
the authors and scholars of the old city; but of its artists something 
must be said. 



STORIES OF AKT AND ARTISTS. 209 

At the close of the fifteenth and at the beginning of the sixteenth 
century, besides Albert Diirer, there were Peter Vischer and his five 
sons, sculptors and bronze casters ; Adam Krafft, sculptor ; Veit Stoss, 
a wonderful wood-carver; and a goodly company of painters and 
engravers whose works and names are still admired and respected. 
When we consider all these advantages that Nuremberg enjoyed, 
we do not think it strange that she should have been called the 
"Gothic Athens." 

The time in which Diirer lived was an interesting one in the history 
of Europe, or, we may say, of the world. He was born twenty-one 
years before Columbus discovered America. In his day, too, Vasco di 
Gama sailed the southern seas ; Copernicus wrote of his observations 
and discoveries ; and all Europe was deeply agitated by the preaching 
of the Reformation by Martin Luther. Men of thought and power 
were everywhere discussing great questions ; the genius of invention 
was active ; the love of the beautiful was indulged, and the general 
wealth and prosperity of Europe supported the artists and encouraged 
them to strive for great attainments. 

Diirer was the friend of Gian Bellini, of Raphael, Quintin Matsys, 
Lucas van Leyden, and many other artists, as well as of many 
people in high position in all parts of Germany, and in some other 
countries. If he did not actually found a new school of art, he 
certainly perfected that which already existed in his country; and 
since he was not only a painter, an architect, and a sculptor, but 
also an engraver and writer upon art, his influence upon his time 
and nation can scarcely be over-estimated. 



14 



210 .STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

ALBERT IttlREK 

was born at Nuremberg in 1471. His father was a master gold- 
smith, and had eighteen children born to him, — seven daughters and 
eleven sons. We can understand how he must have toiled to care 
for all these children; and besides the toil he had great sorrows, 
for fifteen children died. Three sons only — Albert, Andreas, and 
Hans — reached mature age. The portraits which Albert painted of 
his father show so serious and worn a face, that one sees in them 
the marks his struggles had left. We also know that he was a 
man much respected; for though he was hut a craftsman, he was 
honored by the friendship of prominent men, the famous Koberger 
standing as godfather to the baby Albert. 

One of the advantages that the young Albert had as a result 
of his father's position, was an association with Willibald Pirkheimer, 
who was about his own age and of a rich and patrician family. 
Through this friendship Albert saw something of a more refined 
life than that in his father's house, and was also able to learn certain 
things, in winch Willibald's tutors instructed him, that were nol 
taught to the sons of artisans. Among other writings by Albert Diirer 
is a history of his family, in which, speaking of his father, he said : 

" He had many troubles, trials, and adverse circumstances. Rut yet from 
every one who knew hiin he received praise, because he led an honorable Chris- 
tian life, and was patient, giving all men consideration, and thanking God. . . . 
My dear father took great pains witli his children, bringing them up to tin' honor 
of God. He made us know what was agreeable to others, as well as to our Maker, 
so that we might become good neighbors ; and every day he talked to us of these 
things, the love of God, and the conduct of life." 

From his earliest years Albert Diirer hived drawing, and then- 
are sketches in existence made when he was a mere child; there 
is a portrait of himself in the Albertina at Vienna, upon which is 




ALBERT DURER. (AFTER THE PORTRAIT BY HIMSELF IN THE UFFIZI GALLERY, FLORENCE.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 213 

written, " This I have drawn from myself from the looking-glass, 
in the year 1484, when I was still a child. — Albert Durek." 
The expression of the face is sad ; it was painted in the same year 
that his father took him into his workshop, intending to make a 
goldsmith of him. Doubtless, the training which he received here 
was to his advantage, and gave him the wonderful delicacy and 
accuracy of execution which he showed in his later works. He 
writes of this time, — 

" But my love was toward painting much more than toward the goldsmith's 
craft. When at last I told my father of my inclination, he was not well pleased, 
thinking of the time I had heen under him as lost if I turned a painter. But 
he left me to have my will ; and in the year 1486, on Saint Andrew's Day, he 
settled me apprentice with Michael Wohlgemuth, to serve him for three years. In 
that time God gave me diligence to learn well, in spite of the pains I had to suffer 
from the other young men." 

This last sentence doubtless refers to rudeness and jeering from 
his companions, to which he was quite unaccustomed. The art of 
his master was not of a high order, and we doubt if Albert Diirer 
learned anything from him beyond the mechanical processes, such 
as the mixing of colors and facility in using his brush. But in 
his walks about Nuremberg he was always seeing something that 
helped him to form himself as an artist. Nuremberg still retains its 
antique beauty, and much of it remains as Diirer saw it ; there are 
the same narrow streets, with quaint houses, gable-roofed, with arched 
portals and mullioned windows ; splendid Gothic churches are there, 
rich in external architecture, and containing exquisite carvings and 
Byzantine pictures ; it has palaces and mansions inhabited to-day 
by families whose knightly ancestors built them centuries ago. The 
Castle, or Reichsveste, built on a rock, with its three towers, seems 
to be keeping watch over the country around ; while the city walls 
with their numerous turrets, and the four arched gate-ways with 
their lofty watch-towers give the whole place an air of great anti- 



214 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

quity, and make even the matter-of-fact traveller of to-day indulge 
in fanciful dreams of the long ago in which Diirer walked those 
streets, and fed his rich fancy by gazing on those same beauties of 
Nature, Architecture, and Art. 

It is probable that in Wohlgemuth^ studio Diirer did little but 
apprentice-work on the master's pictures. At all events, very few 
of his own drawings of that time exist. In 1490 he painted a 
portrait of his father, now in Florence, which was rarely, perhaps 
never, surpassed by him in his later years. The apprenticeship ended, 
Diirer travelled and studied four years, — a time of which we have 
very little accurate knowledge, — and in 1494 he settled himself as 
a painter and engraver in his native city. 

In the same year Diirer was married to Agnes Frey. It would 
seem, from his own words in his diary, that the match was made 
by the parents of the young people. It has often been said that 
she was a great scold and made him very unhappy; but more recent 
and careful research shows that this story rests upon very slight 
foundation, and nothing in Diirer' s own writings would indicate any 
unhappiness in his home. Agnes Diirer was a very handsome woman ; 
but though several portraits are called by her name, we have no puni- 
tive knowledge that her husband ever made a portrait of her. It was 
in the same year (1494) of his settlement and marriage that he was 
made a member of the Guild of Painters at Nuremberg. Thus when 
twenty-three years old he had studied, made his student's journey, was 
married, and honorably established in his native city. 

Albert Diirer is more famous and more widely known as an engraver 
than as a painter. His first copperplate engraving was made in 1497, 
after which time he executed numerous works of this kind. The 
first impressions from his early engravings are now sought with great 
eagerness by connoisseurs and collectors. One of the first was " Saint 
Jerome's Penance," a good impression of which was sold a few years 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 215 

ago for five hundred dollars. In 1498 Diirer published his first series 
of woodcuts illustrating the Apocalypse of Saint John. These cuts 
marked a new era in wood engraving, and showed what possibilities 
it contained ; before this time it had been a rude art, chiefly used by 
uneducated monks. There are one hundred and seventy-four woodcuts 
attributed to Diirer. The other important series are the " Great and 
Little Passion," showing the sufferings of Christ, and the " Life of the 
Virgin." 

There has been much dispute at various times as to whether the 
master executed his plates with his own hands ; it would seem to be 
the most reasonable conclusion that he did the work himself upon his 
earliest plates, but that later he must have allowed his assistants to 
perform the mechanical labor after his designs. 

Many of Diirer' s engravings seem very ugly to most persons ; and 
indeed to many well-trained critics there is little to admire either in his 
subjects or in his mode of presenting them. He often chose such scenes 
as remind us only of death, sorrow, and sin. Again, his grotesque and 
fantastic humor was shown ; and nothing more wild and unusual could 
be imagined than some of his fancies which he made almost immortal 
through his great artistic power. A woodcut called the " Triumphal 
Arch of Maximilian " is two and a half feet high and nine feet wide ; it 
was composed of ninety-two blocks, and all the remarkable events in 
the Emperor's life are illustrated in it, as well as many symbolical 
figures and pictures expressive of his fame, nobility, and power. 

It is said that while this engraving was being finished by the 
engraver Eosch, the Emperor drove often to see it. On one occasion 
several of Rosch's pet cats ran into the presence of the sovereign, and 
from this incident arose the proverb, " A cat may look at a king." 

Of Diirer' s copperplate engravings, some of the more important are 
"The Nativity," " The Great and the Little Horse," " Melancholy," and 
" The Knight and Death." The last is the most celebrated of all, and 



21G STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

no one can say exactly what it means. It shows a knight in full pano- 
ply, who rides through a rocky defile; Satan is pursuing him and 
clutching after him. while Death is at his side and holds up an hour- 
glass. Some interpreters say that the Knight is a wicked one whom 
Satan owns and Death warns to repent ; others give the Knight a 
name, and several men of the time are mentioned as being in Durer's 
mind; some say that he stands for Diirer himself, when overcome 
by temptation and fear. But let it mean what it may. it is a won- 
derful work, and Kugler says: "I believe I do not exaggerate when I 
particularize this print as the most important work which the fantastic 
spirit of German art has ever produced." 

It has been said that Diirer invented the process of etching ; it is 
more probable that he perfected an older discovery. Very few of his 
etchings remain in existence. 

As a sculptor, Diirer executed some remarkable works in ivory, 
boxwood, and stone ; he also designed some excellent medals. In the 
British Museum there is a relief, seven and a half by five and a half 
inches in size, which was bought about eighty years ago for $2,500. 
It is in cream-colored stone, and represents the birth of Saint John 
the Baptist. It was executed in 1510, and is very remarkable for its 
exquisite detail, which was doubtless a result of his early training as 
a goldsmith, when he learned to do very exact and delicate work. His 
carvings are seen in various places in Europe, and prove that he might 
have succeeded as a sculptor had he chosen that profession. 

Besides his family history and his diary, Diirer wrote some poetry, 
but none of importance. His first noticeable literary work was " The 
Art of Mensuration," which was published in 1525, and was a successful 
book. He also wrote "Some Instruction in the Fortification of Cities. 
Castles, and Towns;" but his greatest achievement as a writer was the 
'• Four Books of Human Proportion." It was not published until after 
his death, and its importance is shown by the fact that it passed through 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 217 

several German editions, besides three in Latin, and two each in Italian, 
French, Portuguese, Dutch, and English. He wrote also upon archi- 
tecture, music, and various departments of painting, such as color, 
landscape, and so on. 

As an architect, we can say but little of Diirer ; for while his writ- 
ings prove that he had a good knowledge of architecture, he executed 
but few works in that department of art, and we have slight knowledge 
of these. It remains only to speak of his paintings, which are not 
numerous, but still exist in galleries in various parts of Europe. Many 
of them are portraits, the finest of which still remains in Nuremberg, 
though enormous sums have been offered for it. It represents Jerome 
Holzschuher, who was a remarkably strong man in character ; it was 
painted in 1526, and retains its rich, vivid coloring. His portraits of 
his father and of himself are very interesting, and all his works of 
this sort are strong, rich pictures. Among his religious pictures the 
" Feast of Rose Garlands " is very prominent. It was painted in Venice, 
in the year 1506. Diirer worked seven months on this picture, and by 
it contradicted those who had said that " he was a good engraver, but 
knew not how to deal with colors." It brought him great fame, and 
was sold from the church where it was originally placed to the Emperor 
Rudolf II., who had it borne on men's shoulders from Venice to Prague, 
in order to avoid the injuries which might come from other modes of 
removing it. In 1782 it was sold by Joseph II., and has since been in 
the monastery of Strabow, at Prague ; through much restoration it has 
been seriously injured. In the background, on the right, are the figures 
of Diirer and Pirkheimer, who remained the friend of his age as of his 
childhood. 

An earlier work is the "Adoration of the Kings," in the Tribune of 
the Uffizi, at Florence ; this is one of Diirer' s best paintings. The years 
from 1507 to 1526 were the most fruitful of good work in the life of 
this master ; and in 1526 he painted two pictures which, for some 



218 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

reasons, are the most interesting of all he did. They were the result 
of his best thought, and may be called the first complete work of art 
produced by Protestantism. They represent the Apostles John and 
Peter, Mark and Paul. He put upon them inscriptions from the < rospels 
and the Epistles, urging the danger of departing from the Word of Clod 
or believing in false prophets ; and the figures, bearing the Scriptures 
in their hands, seem to be the faithful guardians of God's law. 

There is an old tradition that these figures represent the Four Tem- 
peraments : thus, in the first, Saint Peter with a hoary head and 
reposeful air, bending over the book in the hands of Saint John, repre- 
sents the phlegmatic temperament, ever tranquil in its reflections; 
Saint John, with his earnest, thoughtful face stands for the melancholic, 
temperament, which pushes its inquiries to the profoundest depths: 
these two represent the inward life, that from which conies conviction. 
In the second picture the effect of this upon action and daily life is 
shown: Saint Mark, in the background, represents the sanguine tem- 
perament; he looks around appealingly and hopefully, as if urging 
others to search the Scriptures for the same good which he has found 
in them ; while Saint Paul stands in front bearing the book and the 
sword, looking severely over his shoulder, as if ready to defend the 
Word and punish by the sword any who should show it disrespect : he 
stands for the choleric temperament. 

These two pictures are executed in a masterly manner ; there is a 
sublimity of expression in them, a majestic repose and perfect simplicity 
in the movement and in the folds of the drapery; all is in keeping. 
The color, too, is warm and true to nature; no touch of the fantastic 
is felt. In these pictures Albert Diirer reached the summit of his power, 
and stood on a plane with the great masters of the world. 

When they were completed, Diirer presented them to the Council of 
Nuremberg as a remembrance of himself as an artist, and as teaching 
his fellow-citizens an earnest lesson suited to the stormy time in which 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 219 

they lived. The Council accepted the gift, placed the pictures in the 
council house, and sent a present of money to Durer and his wife. 
A century later, the Elector Maximilian of Bavaria determined to have 
these panels at any cost ; he bribed and threatened, and at last the 
Council of Nuremberg, afraid of his anger, sent the pictures to Munich, 
after having copies made by John Fischer upon which were placed the 
original inscriptions, as it was thought best to cut them off from 
Durer' s own work, lest they should not please a Catholic Prince. This 
explains why the originals are in the Munich gallery, and the copies in 
the town picture gallery now in the Rathbaus of Nuremberg. 

I shall not stay to describe more of Durer' s paintings, for I wish 
to resume the account of his life. As stated, it was in 1494 that 
he married and settled in his native city. About 1500, Willibald 
Pirkheimer returned from military service and renewed his friendship 
with Durer. At his house the artist met many eminent men, — scholars 
and reformers ; and while he was admired and appreciated for his own 
genius and accomplishments, he himself gained much greater and better 
knowledge of the world in this society than his previous narrow life 
had given him. 

In 1502 Durer' s father died, and the son quaintly and tenderly 
relates the closing scenes of the old man's life, and mourns his own 
loss. Within the next two years Durer took his mother and his 
youngest brother to his own home, while his brother Andreas was 
thus left free to go on a student journey as a goldsmith. 

In 1505, after several years of continuous industry, Durer made a 
journey to Venice ; he arrived there when Giovanni Bellini was the 
leader of the Venetian artists, and Carpaccio was painting his pictures 
of Saint Ursula. Titian and Giorgione were then becoming more and 
more famous, and before Diirer left their city he was employed at the 
same time with them in painting for the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, or the 
Company of Germans in Venice. The letters which Diirer wrote at this 



220 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

time to his friend Pirkheimer are of much interest ; during the Thirty 
Years' War in Germany, these letters were walled up in the Imhoti 
mansion, and were discovered some time later. 

Diirer wrote of the kindness he received from gentlemen, hut said 
that the artists were not so favorable to him. He was very sensitive 
to their criticisms ; and when he had finished his " Rose Garlands," 
wrote that the Doge and the Patriarch had visited his studio to see it ; 
that he had contradicted those who said that he could not use colors, 
and added, "There is no better picture of the Virgin Mary in the land, 
because all the artists praise it, as well as the nobility. They say 
they have never seen a more sublime, a more charming painting." 

Pirkheimer was constantly urging Diirer to return home, and 
Agnes Diirer was very unhappy at the long absence of her husband. 
The artist dreaded his return. He said, " Oh, how I shall freeze 
after this sunshine! Here, I am a gentleman; at home, only a 
parasite!" He was forced to refuse many commissions that were 
offered him, as well as a government pension of two hundred ducats ; 
but he thought it his duty to return to Nuremberg. On his way. 
he visited Bologna; and through pictures which he left there, Raphael's 
attention was turned to him in such a manner that an intimate 
correspondence and an exchange of pictures occun*ed between him 
and Diirer. It was a fortunate thing for the interest of painting 
that Diirer did not remain in Italy ; had he done so. he would 
without doubt have modified his striking individuality, and his 
strength and quaintness would have been lost to German art. 

It is said that Bellini was much pleased with Diirer's painting, es- 
pecially with his manner of representing hair. One day he begged the 
German to give him the brush which he used for that purpose ; upon 
this, Diirer took one of his common brushes and painted a long tress 
of woman's hair, while Bellini looked on admiringly, and declared 
that had he not seen it he could not have believed it. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 221 

From 1507, Diirer was the teacher of many students in painting 
and engraving, and his studio was a hive of busy workmen. At 
this time the artist was at the height of his productiveness, and 
worked at painting, engraving, and carving ; during seven years from 
this date, besides his pictures, he made more than a hundred wood- 
cuts and forty-eight engravings and etchings. These last were very 
salable, as the religious excitement of the time made a great demand 
for his engravings of the Passion, the Virgin, and Saints ; and his in- 
come was so increased as to enable him to live very comfortably. 

In 1509 Diirer finished the " Coronation of the Virgin " for the 
merchant Heller. It was an important picture, now known only 
by a copy at Nuremberg, as the original was burned in the palace 
at Munich about 1673. There was some dispute about the price, 
two hundred florins, and Diirer wrote to Heller : " I should become 
a beggar by this means ; henceforward I will stick to my engraving ; 
and if I had done so before, I should be richer by a thousand florins 
than I am to-day." This seems to explain the reason of his cuts 
being so much more numerous than his paintings. 

The house in which Diirer lived is now preserved as public property 
in Nuremberg. It is occupied by a society of artists, who guard it from 
injury ; a street which passes it is called Albert Diirer's street. Here 
he lived in much comfort, though not luxury, as we may know from 
a memorandum which he wrote before his death, in which he said : 

" Eegarding the belongings I have amassed by my own handiwork, I have not 
had a great chance to become rich, and have had plenty of losses, — having lent 
without being repaid, and my workmen have not reckoned with me ; also my agent 
at Rome died, after using up my property. . . . Still, we have good house-furnish- 
ing, clothing, costly things in earthenware, professional fittings-up, bed-furnishings, 
chests, and cabinets ; and my stock of colors is worth one hundred guldens." 

In 1512 Diirer was first employed by the Emperor Maximilian, 
whose life was pictured in the great print of the " Triumphal Arch." 



222 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

It is said that this sovereign made Diirer a noble; and we know 
he granted the artist a pension of two hundred dollars a year, which, 
however, was not always promptly paid. Diirer relates that one day 
when he was working on a sketch for the Emperor, his Majesty tried 
to make a drawing himself , using a charcoal-crayon ; but he had great 
trouble on account of its breaking, and complained that he could 
do nothing with it. The artist took the crayon from his hand. 
saying, "This is my sceptre, your Majesty," and then taught the 
sovereign how to use it. 

Of the death of his mother Diirer wrote a particular account, from 
which I give an extract : — 

"Now, you must know that in the year 1513, on a Tuesday in Cross-week, my 
poor unhappy mother, whom I had taken under my charge two years after my 
father's death because she was then quite poor, and who had lived witli me for 
nine years, was taken deathly sick on one morning early, so that we had to break 
open her room; for we knew not, as she could not get up, what to do. . . . And 
her custom was to go often to church ; and she always punished me when I did 
not act rightly ; and she always took great care to keep me and my brothers from 
sin ; and whether I went in or out, her constant word was, ' In the name of Christ;' 
and with great diligence she constantly gave us holy exhortations, and had gr< ; 
care over our souls." 

She lived still a year, and the artist wrote : — 

"I prayed for her, and had such great grief for her that I can never express. 
. . . And she was sixty-three years eld when she died; and I buried her honor- 
ably, according to my means. . . . And in her death she looked still more lovely 
than she was in her life." 

In 1520 Diirer, with his wife and her maid Susanna, made the 
tour of the Netherlands. His principal object in this journey was 
to see the new emperor. Charles V., and obtain a confirmation of 
the pension which Maximilian had granted him. and. if possible, the 
appointment of court-painter also. This tour was made when there 
was great wealth and prosperity all through the Low Countries, and 







THE NATIVITY. (PAC-SIMILE OP A COPPER-PLATE ENGRAVING BY ALBERT DURER.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



225 



Diirer's journal was filled with expressions of wonder at the prosperity 
and magnificence which he saw. 

At Antwerp he met Quintin Matsys, of whom we have already 
spoken, and other Flemish painters, and writes : — 

" On Saint Oswald's Day, the painters invited me to their hall, with my 
wife and maid; and everything there was of silver and other costly ornamenta- 
tion, and extremely costly viands. 
There were also their wives there; 
and when I was conducted to the 
table, all the people stood up on each 
side, as if I had been a great lord. 
There were amongst them also many 
persons of distinction, who all bowed 
low, and in the most humble manner 
testified their pleasure at seeing me, 
and they said they would do all in 
their power to give me pleasure. 
And as I sat at table, there came in 
the messenger of the Bath of Ant- 
werp, who presented me with four 
tankards of wine in the name of the 
magistrates ; and he said that they 
desired to honor me with this, and 
that I should have their good-will. 
. . . And for a long time we were 
very merry together, until quite late 
in the night ; then they accompanied 
us home with torches in the most 
honorable manner, and they begged us to accept their good-will, and said they 
would do whatever I desired that might be of assistance to me." 

While at Antwerp, Diirer met many notable people, and painted 
some portraits ; he also sold many engravings, — all of which business 
matters are recorded in his journal. The Portuguese consul sent a 
large quantity of sweetmeats and a green parrot to Agnes Diirer, 
and her husband in return presented the consul with several score 

15 




SAINT GEOKGE AND THE DRAGON. (FROM A 
WOOD-ENGRAVING BY ALBERT DTJRER.) 



226 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

of engravings. It would be a curious thing to know where these 
prints are now, and we wonder how much the consul then prized 
what would now be of such great value. Diirer went to Brussels with 
Tomasin Florianus, and was there entertained with great honors, being 
well received by the Regent Margaret, who promised to interest her- 
self in his behalf at the imperial court. Of this visit he wrote : — 

"And I have seen King Charles's house at Brussels, with its fountains, laby- 
rinth, and park. It gave me the greatest pleasure; ami a more delightful thing, 

and mure like a paradise, I have never before seen. . . . At Brussels there is a 
town hall, built of hewn stone, with a splendid transparent tower. ... 1 also have 
been into the Nassau house, which is built in such a costly style and so beauti- 
fully ornamented. And I saw the two beautiful large rooms, and all the costly 
things in the house everywhere, and also the great bed in which fifty men might 
lie; and I have also seen the big stone which fell in a thunder-storm in a field. 
. . . Also I have seen the thing which has been brought to the King from the 
newOolden Land (Mexico), — a sun of gold a fathom broad, and a silver moon just 
as big. Likewise, two rooms full of armor; likewise, all kinds of arms, harness, 
and wonderful missiles, very strange clothing, bed-gear, and all kind 'if the most 
wonderful things for man's use, that are as beautiful to behold as they are won- 
derful. These things are all so costly, that they have been valued at one hundred 
thousand gulden. And I have never, in all the days of my life, seen anything 
that has so much rejoiced my heart as these things. For I have seen among them 
wonderfully artistic things, and I have wondered at the subtle talents of men in 
foreign lands." 

I must make one more quotation from his journal, which describes 

a brilliant scene : — 

"I saw a great procession from Our Lady's Church at Antwerp, when the 
whole town was assembled, artisans and people of every rank, every one dn 
in the most costly manner according to his station. Every class and every guild 
had its badge, by which it might be recognized : large and costly tapers were also 
home by some of them. There were also long silver trumpets of the old Fraukish 
fashion. There were also many German pipers and drummers, who piped and 
drummed their loudest. Also T saw in the street, marching in a line in regular 
order with certain distances between, the goldsmiths, painters, stone-masons, em- 
broiderers, sculptors, joiners, carpenters, sailors, fish-mongers, . . . and all kinds of 
artisans who are useful in producing the necessaries of life. In the same way 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 227 

there were the shopkeepers and merchants, and their clerks. After these came 
the marksmen, with firelocks, bows, and cross-bows ; some on horseback, and some 
on foot. After that came the City Guards ; and at last a mighty and beautiful 
throng of different nations and religious orders, superbly costumed, and each dis- 
tinguished from the other very piously. I remarked in this procession a troop 
of widows, who lived by their labor. They all had white linen cloths covering 
their heads, and reaching down to their feet, very seemly to behold. Behind 
them I saw many brave persons, and the canons of Our Lady's Church, with all 
the clergy and bursars. 1 . . . There were brought along many wagons, with mov- 
ing ships, and other things. Then followed the Prophets, all in order ; the New 
Testament, showing the Salutation of the angel ; the three Holy Kings on their 
camels, and other rare wonders very beautifully arranged. ... At the last came 
a great dragon, led by Saint Margaret and her maidens, who were very pretty ; 
also Saint George, with his squire, a very handsome Courlander. 2 Also a great 
many boys and girls, dressed in the most costly and ornamental manner accord- 
ing to the fashion of different countries, rode in this troop, and represented as 
many saints. This procession from beginning to end was more than two hours 
passing by our house ; and there were so many things that I could never write 
them all down, even in a book, and so I leave it alone." 

It is very curious to note how much the grand processions of three 
hundred and fifty years ago in Antwerp resembled those we see now 
on great occasions there. 

Diirer went to Aix-la-Chapelle and witnessed the coronation of 
the Emperor Charles V., and saw all the relics and the wonders of 
this capital of Charlemagne. He next visited Cologne ; and at last, 
in November, he succeeded in attaining the object for which, first 
of all, he had made his journey, — the confirmation by the Emperor 
of the pension which Maximilian had granted him, and also his 
appointment as court-painter. He returned to Antwerp and made 
several other excursions, one of which was to Zealand, a province 
of Holland bordering on the North Sea, to see a whale that had 
been stranded on the coast ; but before Diirer reached the place the 
tide had carried the huge creature to sea again. 

1 " Bursars " wore treasurers or cash-keepers of colleges or convents. 

2 Courland is one of the Baltic provinces of Russia, largely inhabited hy Germans. 



228 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

And so the journal continues to give accounts of sight-seeinga 
and pleasuring*, of presents given and received, interrupted at times 
by some work at his profession, until finally lie returned to Nuremberg 
late in the year 1521. 

Two very famous men had died while he was travelling, — Martin 

Luther and Raphael. Diirer tried hard to get some drawings by 

the great artist, hut we do not know if he succeeded. The notes 

in his journal at the time of Luther's death are very interesting. 

and prove that he had much sympathy with Protestants, although 

it is believed that he remained a Roman Catholic all his lite, lie 

wrote : — 

"He was a man enlightened by the Holy Ghost, and a follower of the true 
Christian faith. He has suffered much for Christ's sake, and because lie has re- 
buked the unchristian papacy which strives against the freedom of Christ with its 
heavy burdens of human laws; . . . never were any people so horribly burdened 
with ordinances as us poor people by the Eomish see; . . . God, is Luther dead >. 
who will henceforth explain to us so clearly the Holy Gospel ! () all pious Chris- 
tian men, bewail with me this God-inspired man, and pray (led to semi us another 
enlightened teacher." 

When Diirer reached home he found that a great religious change 
had occurred there, and during the rest of his life he made no more 
pictures of the Virgin Mary; he made two engravings of Saint 
Christopher bearing the child Jesus safely through the floods, as sym- 
bols of his belief that faithful men would carry true Christianity 
through all troubles and bring- it out triumphant at last. Nurem- 
berg -was the first free imperial city of the Empire that declared 
itself Protestant; Diirer's friend, Pirkheimer. was one of those whom 
the Pope excommunicated. It is most fortunate that the change of 
religion in this grand old town was made so quietly and moder- 
ately that there was no destruction of the churches or of the art- 
treasures in which it was so rich. Many of them remain there to 
this dav. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 231 

Diirer had contracted a disease in Zealand, which seems to have 
been a sort of low fever; it undermined his health, never leaving 
him for the rest of his life, and on this account he did far less 
work than ever before. He however paid much attention to the 
publishing of his writings, and made a few portraits and the grand 
pictures of the Apostles which I have described. 

One of the results of his foreign tour afforded much entertain- 
ment to his friends and to the scholars of Nuremberg : he had brought 
home a remarkable collection of curiosities, — all sorts of rare things 
from various parts of Europe, India, and even from America. He 
also gave to his friends many presents that he had brought for 
them ; and his return, with his commission as court-painter and an 
enormous amount of curious luggage, made him a person of much 
consequence in the Franconian capital. Charles V. spent very little 
time in Nuremberg, and practically required small service from Diirer ; 
it was not until after Diirer died that the Emperor became so 
fond of having his portrait painted, aiid then Titian held the position 
which had been made vacant by Diirer's death. 

Diirer did not become rich, as an extract from a letter which 
he wrote to the Council of Nuremberg, in 1524, touched with a tone 
of sadness, fully explains. After telling them that he had laid by one 
thousand florins, which he wished the Council to take and pay him a 
comfortable rate of interest on, he says : — 

"Your Wisdoms know that I have always been obedient, willing, and dili- 
gent in all things done for your Wisdoms and for the common state, and for other 
persons of the Rath (Council), and that the state has always had my help, art, and 
work, whenever they were needed, and that without payment rather than for 
money ; for I can write with truth, that, during the thirty years that I have had 
a house in this town, I have not had five hundred guldens' worth of work from it, 
and what I have had has been poor and mean, and I have not gained the fifth 
part for it that it was worth ; but all that I have earned, which God knows has 
only been by hard toil, has been from princes, lords, and other foreign persons. 
Also, I have expended all my earnings from foreigners in this town. Also, your 



232 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Honors doubtless know that, on account of the many works 1 had done for Lira, 
the late Emperor Maximilian, of praiseworthy memory, out of his own imperial 
liberality, granted me an exemption from the rates and taxes of this town, which, 
however, I voluntarily gave up when 1 was spoken to about it by the Elders of 
the Rath, in order to show honor to my Lords, and to maintain their favor and 
uphold their customs and justice. 

"Nineteen years ago the Doge of Venice wrote to me, offering me two hundred 
ducats a year if I would live in that city. More lately the Rath of Antwerp, while 
I remained in the Low Countries, also made me an otter, — three hundred florins of 
Philippe a year, and a fair mansion to live in. In both places all that I did for 
the government would have been paid over and above the pension. All of which, 
out of my love for my honorable and wise Lords, for this town, and for my father- 
land, I refused, ami chose rather to live simply, near your Wisdoms, than to be 
rich and great in any other place. It is, therefore, my dutiful request to your 
Lordships that you will take all these things into your favorable consideration, 
and accept these thousand florins, and grant me a yearly interest upon them of 
fifty florins, so that I and my wife, who are daily growing old, weak, and incapable, 
may have a moderate provision against want. And I will ever do my utmost to 
deserve your noble Wisdoms' favor and approbation as heretofore." 

The Council granted his request ; but after his death they reduced 
the interest to forty florins a year, although in 1526 Diirer had pre- 
sented to them his splendid panels of the Apostles. This meanness 
in money matters toward the great artist almost reconciles us to 
the fact that these pictures were taken away to Munich. 

Diirer died suddenly at last, on the 6th of April. 1528, exactly 
eight years from the day on which Raphael had died. He was 
buried in the church-yard of Saint John, beyond the walls, in the 
lot of his father-in-law Hans Frey. This church-yard is of great 
interest; the aristocrats of Nuremberg have been buried there dur- 
ing many years. It has thirty-five hundred gravestones, all of which 
are numbered; and nearby all are decorated with coats-of-arms ami 
such devices as show the importance of those buried here. Diirer's 
monument bears this simple inscription, written by bis friend Pirk- 
heimer : — 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 233 

" Me. Al. Dv. Quicquid Albeeti Dueeri Mortale Fdit, Sub Hoc Coxditub 
Tumulo. Emigeavit VIII. Idus Apeilis, MDXXVIII. A. D." 

"Which may be translated, — 

"In memory of Albert Diirer. Whatever was mortal of Albert Diirer is laid 
under this stone. He departed the eighth day before the Ides of April, in the year 
of our Lord 1528." 

It is said that Raphael, when he had studied Dlirer's engravings, 
exclaimed, — 

" Of a truth this man would have surpassed us all if he had had the master- 
pieces of art constantly before his eyes, as we have." 

And John Andreas wrote of him : — 

" It is very surprising, in regard to that man, that in a rude and barbarous 
age he was the first of the Germans who not only arrived at an exact imitation of 
Nature, but has likewise left no second; being so absolutely a master of it in 
all its parts, — in etching, engraving, statuary, architecture, optics, symmetry, and 
the rest, — that he had no equal except Michael Angelo Buonarotti, his contem- 
porary and rival; and he left behind him such works as were too much for the 
life of one man." 

On Easter Sunday in 1828, three hundred years after his death, 
there was a tribute paid to his memory ; and a great procession of 
artists and scholars from all parts of Germany was formed in Nurem- 
berg, which moved out to the church-yard of Saint John, where they 
sang such hymns above the grave of the artist as he loved to hear 
in his life. There can be nothing more appropriate with which to 
close our study of Albert Diirer than the poem of our own poet, 
Longfellow : J — 

In the valley of the Pegnitz, where across broad meadow-lands 
Rise the blue Franconian mountains, Nuremberg the ancient stands. 

Quaint old town of toil and traffic, quaint old town of art and song, 
Memories haunt thy pointed gables, like the rooks that round them throng, — 

1 These stanzas from Longfellow's poem are here printed by the kind permission of Messrs. 
Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 



234 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Memories of the Middle Ages, when the emperors, rough and bold, 
Had their dwelling in thy castle, time-defying, centuries old; 

And thy brave and thrifty burghers boasted, in their uncouth rhyme, 
That their great, imperial city stretched its hand through every clime. 

In the court-yard of the castle, bound with many an iron band, 
Stands the mighty linden planted by Queen Cunigunde's hand ; 

On the square the oriel window, where in old, heroic days 
Sat the poet Melchior singing Kaiser Maximilian's praise. 

Everywhere I see around me rise the wondrous world of Art. — 
Fountains wrought with richest sculpture standing in the common mart ; 

And above cathedral doorways saints and bishops carved in stone, 
By a former age commissioned as apostles to our own. 

In the church of sainted Sebald sleeps enshrined his holy dust. 

And in bronze the Twelve Apostles guard from age to age their trust; 

In the church of sainted Lawrence stands a pix of sculpture rare, 
Like the foamy sheaf of fountains, rising through the painted air. 

Here, when Art was still religion, with a simple, reverent heart, 
Lived and labored Albrecht Diirer, the Evangelist of Art ; 

Hence in silence and in sorrow, toiling still with busy hand, 
Like an emigrant he wandered, seeking for the Better Land. 

Emigravit is the inscription on the tombstone where he lies; 
Dead he is not, but departed, — for the artist never dies. 



SPANISH PAINTING. 




HE Spanish school of painting dates about two hundred and 
fifty years later than the Italian, and one hundred years later 
than the Flemish school. Thus the Spanish school had its 
birth just when the Italian school was in its best strength and beauty, 
and the earliest Spanish painters profited by the study of what had 
already been done in Italy. As soon as an interest in painting had 
been awakened in Spain, the Spanish monarchs invited Italian painters 
to their courts ; they also purchased splendid pictures from artists who 
never went to Spain, and many of these works could be seen and 
studied by Spanish painters, who thus had some of the finest master- 
pieces of the world always before their eyes. 

Then, too, many Spanish students went to Italy to study ; and this 
constant coming of Italians and going of Spaniards — most of whom 
returned to practise in Spain the art which they had learned far away 
beyond the PjTenees and Alps — resulted hi the foundation and estab- 
lishment of the Spanish School of Painting. The chief centres of 
this school were Toledo, Seville, Valencia, and Madrid ; and after 
Philip II. made Madrid the capital of Spain, its school of art increased 
in importance, until, in the time of Philip IV., this city was the 
metropolis of Spanish art. 

The Gallery of Madrid, which is conceded to be the finest collection 
of pictures in the world, has, of foreign pictures, forty-three by Titian, 
ten by Raphael, twenty-five by Paul Veronese, thirty-four by Tinto- 
retto, sixty-four by Rubens, a fine collection by Vandyck, and sixty 
finished works by Teniers. Of the Spanish painters, the galleiw 



23G STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

contains sixty-five by Velasquez, forty-six by Murillo, and fifty-eight 
by Ribera. 

When one thinks of all this, it is natural to wonder how such 
treasures were ever brought together in Spain. The explanation of 
it is that the great Envperor Charles V. was at the height of his 
power and wealth just when the painting of Italy had reached its besl 
estate. He ruled over Spain, the Netherlands, Milan, Naples, and 
Sicily. These countries embraced a large part of the territory of 
Europe in which art had attained perfection, and the vast riches at 
his command gave him the power to be the patron of the art of all 
nations. 

As we have already said, Charles V. was the personal friend of 
Titian, and the possessor of some of the most glorious works of that 
master ; he also purchased many masterpieces of the best Flemish and 
Italian painters, and thus made the beginning of the splendid gallery of 
Madrid. To this, Philip II. and other sovereigns added still other for- 
eign works, while many of the best pictures of the Spanish painters 
were also placed there. The gallery now contains many works which 
were formeidy distributed in palaces and convents, and were thus almosl 
lost to the world, since they were only seen by the few who were ad- 
mitted to these places. Ferdinand VII.. however, removed many of 
those which had adorned the palaces and placed them in the gallery ; 
and when the riches of the monasteries were also added to it, this 
collection became almost too magnificent for description. 

The religious element, as was natural in the time when the Church 
was all-powerful, was most prominent in Spanish art under the 
reigns of Charles V. and his successors. "With the exception of por- 
traits, there were few pictures of importance that had not a religious 
meaning. 

Spanish painting reached its meridian in the seventeenth century. 
The most interesting Spanish artists, about twelve in number, all died 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 237 

between the years 1586 and 1682 ; and after that time no great painter 
arose to replace those who had gone, or to add new lustre to the Spanish 
School. 



LUIS DE MOEALES 

was one of the earliest of this twelve. He was born in Badajoz x in 
1509, and died in 1586. He was the first Spanish painter who acquired 
a reputation outside of his own country. His subjects were all reli- 
gious, and he was called El Divino, or " the divine," on account of the 
devotional element in his works. He painted on panels and finished 
his pictures with great care. His works are not numerous in Spain, 
and but few of them are seen elsewhere. There are good specimens 
in the Louvre, in the Dresden Gallery, and at the Hermitage, in St. 
Petersburg. He belonged to the Castilian school and studied at 
Toledo. 

When Morales was fifty-five years old, Philip II. invited him to 
court. When he appeared before the king he wore so magnificent 
a costume that Philip was angry, and ordered a sum of money to be 
paid the artist and a dismissal to be sent him at the same time. This 
was a dreadful blow to Morales ; and when he explained that he had 
spent nearly all that he had in order to appear before his sovereign in 
a dress which befitted the dignity of the king, he was pardoned, and 
commissioned to paint one picture. This, however, was not hung in 
the Escorial, 2 which so mortified Morales that he forsook his art and 
fell into great poverty. 

In 1581 Philip visited Badajoz and saw Morales in a very different 
dress from that which he had worn at court. 

" Morales, you are very old," said the king. 

1 Pronounced Bad-a-hos. 

2 A famous Spanish palace, about twenty-four miles from Madrid, built by Philip II. 



238 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

" Yes, sire, and very poor," replied the painter. 

Philip then commanded that two hundred ducats of the crown rents 
of Badajoz should he given each year to the painter to supply him with 
dinners. Hearing this. Morales exclaimed, — 

" And for supper, sire ? " 

This aptness so pleased the king that he added one hundred ducats 
to the pension, and these sums gave Morales comfort for the rest of his 
days. The street in Badajoz in which he lived still hears his name 



JOSE DE RIB ERA, 

also called Lo Spagnoletto. was born at Xativa in 1588, and died in 
Naples in 1656. Though he lived many years in Italy, his name ami 
rank are important, among the painters of Spain. In the paper on 
Italian painters I have already told something of this artist and his 
life in Naples ; also of the kindness of a cardinal to him when he 
was a boy in Rome, and his decision that he needed the spur of poverty 
to make him a good artist. 

Ribera seems, however, to have thought differently about this in 
later years, for when a rich picture-dealer in Naples offered him his 
daughter in marriage, the painter accepted her ; but he was an in- 
dustrious artist, though he lived in princely style. Most of Ribera's 
subjects were painful, and he painted them so naturally that they are 
often revolting in their representation of horrible suffering, though 
their great merits show him to have been a very gifted painter. It is 
pleasant to add that he sometimes painted pictures of a differenl sort. 
One of these is in the Madrid Gallery, and represents the " Dream of Ja- 
cob." It has all the strength of his other works, and at the same time 
a sweetness of sentiment and a tenderness in its handling which prove 
that Ribera had a better side to his nature. He has represented Jacob 
stretched on an open plain, sleeping profoundly ; on one side a stream 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 241 

of cloudy, golden brightness extends from earth to heaven, and in this 
are angels ascending and descending. 

Many portraits and other pictures by Ribera are seen in the gal- 
leries of Europe. His " Descent from the Cross," which is considered 
his finest work, is in the church of San Martino, in Naples. Of the 
large number of his pictures in the Madrid Gallery, many are single 
heads of saints and apostles on small canvases. 



VELASQUEZ. 

This master is generally called the greatest painter of Spain. His 
full name is Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez. He was born in 
Seville in 1599, — the same year in which Vandyck was born in 
Antwerp, — and he died in Madrid in 1660; thus his work belongs to 
the seventeenth century. His parents were of noble blood ; his father 
was of the Portuguese family of De Silva, and a lawyer in Seville ; his 
mother, Geronima Velasquez, — by whose name the artist is known, 
according to the custom of Andalusia, — was an accomplished woman, 
and devoted herself to the education of her son. Although Velasquez 
had a quick mind and could learn easily, he was so fond of drawing that 
he was unwilling to study other things, and when still very young he 
was placed in the school of Herrera the Elder. This painter has been 
called " a clever brute," and Velasquez soon tired of him ; but mean- 
time he had acquired a free, bold style of drawing. His second master 
was Francesco Pacheco, who never became great as a painter, but was 
a refined and polished gentleman and a writer of some reputation. 

Velasquez soon discovered that no master could make him the art- 
ist that he desired to be. He determined to devote himself to the study 
of Nature alone ; and working thus, with untiring industry, he became 
one of the great masters of the world. Until he was twenty-three 
years old, he devoted himself to representing the low and common life 

16 



•24:2 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

of the streets ; he painted what he saw just as he saw it. in form, color, 
and every particular. He is said to have kept a peasant lad as a model, 
and from him he painted a variety of heads in all sorts of positions and 
with every possible expression. To this early period belong several pic- 
tures of beggar boys which are well known, and the important " Water- 
carrier of Seville," which is now at Apsle}' House; also the " Adoration 
of the Shepherds," which is in the National Gallery in London. 

In 1622 Velasquez went to Madrid for the first time, and there saw 
the pictures in the Royal Gallery, of which he had heard much from 
the visitors to the studio of Pacheco. He carried with him letters 
which enabled him to see the works of art in the capital, but he was 
not brought to the notice of the king. While in Madrid he painted 
the portrait of the poet Gongora, and secured the friendship of Fonseca, 
who was a patron of art, and who later interested the minister Olivarez 
in the young painter of Seville. As the result of all this, Velasquez 
was soon summoned to the court, and a purse of fifty ducats was sent 
him to cover the expenses of his journey. 

Meantime he had married the daughter of Pacheco, and when he 
went to Madrid he was accompanied by his wife, his father-in-law, and 
his mulatto slave, Juan Pareja, who later became an excellent painter. 
The first picture painted by Velasquez, after his second arrival at Madrid. 
was a portrait of Fonseca ; this was shown to the king, who was so 
well pleased with it that he immediately appointed the artist his court- 
painter, which position Velasquez held as long as he lived. 

The service of Philip IV. perfected Velasquez as a portrait-painter. 
The king was never weary of sitting for his own portrait ; and those of 
his queen and his children, in groups and in single pictures, were re- 
peated again and again. Velasquez was always prosperous ; he grew in 
favor with the king, who afforded him every possible opportunity for 
improvement and enjojmient. Philip made himself his familiar friend. 
and was accustomed to visit his studio with as little ceremony as one 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 243 

gentleman uses with another who is his equal in rank. He would per- 
mit no other artist to paint his portrait, and lost no opportunity to 
show his regard for his favorite painter. He was in the habit also of 
asking advice from Velasquez concerning the improvement of his capital 
and the art-collections which he desired to make. Velasquez was also 
the favorite of the minister Olivarez, and this proves that he must have 
attended strictly to such matters as concerned himself and his art ; for 
had he ventured to advise the king in other directions, the proud minis- 
ter would not have been his friend. 

At length Velasquez was allowed to visit Italy. He remained there 
two years, and was treated with the respect which his character and his 
talents merited. After his return to Madrid, he became more and more 
necessary to King Philip ; he attended the king upon his journeys, and 
was in the most confidential relations with him. After a time the king 
sent Velasquez again to Italy to purchase works of art, and gave him 
full power to buy whatever his judgment approved. As the special 
agent of the Spanish monarch, and with his fame as a painter, 
Velasquez became a very important person, and was everywhere re- 
ceived with the highest honors. Pope Innocent X. sat to him for his 
portrait, as did also several cardinals and Roman princes. He was 
elected a member of the Academy of St. Luke, at Rome, and formed 
close friendships with many sculptors and painters. 

Upon his return to Madrid, Velasquez was appointed Aposentador 
Mayor (Grand Marshal of the Royal Apartments) of the king's house- 
hold, with a salary of three thousand ducats a year. He carried 
at his belt a key which opened every lock in the palace. The 
duties of this office required him to superintend all the ceremonies 
and festivals of the royal household. This was a heavy tax upon 
his time and strength ; but besides this he also fulfilled his part as 
superintendent of the Gallery of the Escorial, arranged his Italian 
bronzes and marbles in the halls of the Alcazar, attended to bronze 



244 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

castings from models which he had brought from Italy, and painted his 
last great picture, known in Spain as Lcs Meninas, or •• The Maids of 
Honor." This picture represents the royal family, with the maids of 
honor, the dwarfs, a sleeping hound, and the artist himself standing be- 
fore the easel with pencils in hand. Doubtless the great master was 
very weary of repeating again and again the faces of the king and 
his children, and the idea came to him to make this picture some- 
thing more than a portrait. It gives the whole scene precisely as 
it was, and is thus historical. It represents one moment in the 
life of all the notable people whom it reproduces exactly as it was 
passed by them ; the faces of the king and queen arc seen in a 
mirror, for the special purpose of the work was thought to be the 
portrait of the little Infanta, or princess, who is stiffly placed in the 
centre, with her little maids around her. 

Mr. John Hay, in his book called "Castilian Days." says: "The 
longer you look upon this marvellous painting, the less possible does 
it seem that it is merely the placing of color on canvas which causes 
this perfect illusion. It does not seem possible that you are look- 
ing at a plane surface. . . . There is space and light in this pic- 
ture as in any room. If art consists in making a fleeting moment 
immortal, . . . then it will be hard to find a greater painting than 
this." 

When Philip saw this picture, he said it wanted but one thing; 
and he took a brush and in the most unskilful manner painted a 
red cross upon the breast of the portrait of Velasquez. Thus was 
the artist made a Knight of the Order of Santiago, and the manner 
in which the knighthood was conferred was the highest compliment 
ever paid to a painter. 

This famous picture is not beautiful. The color is dull, its whole 
tone being an olive-green gray; the persons represented are not beau- 
tiful, — Velasquez is the only graceful figure there. But in spite of 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTiSTS. 245 

this it has a great power ; it is a picture that one cannot turn away 
from hastily. 

The last important act in the life of Velasquez was his superin- 
tendence of the ceremonies at the Isle of Pheasants, when the courts 
of France and Spain met there, and when Louis XIV., accompanied 
by the queen-mother of France, received the Infanta Maria Teresa 
for his wife. The splendid ceremonies of the occasion furnished many 
scenes worthy to be immortalized by the poet or artist, but its prep- 
aration was too much for the strength of Velasquez, who was already 
overworked. He reached Madrid on the 26th of June, and died 
on the 6th of August. His wife lived but eight days longer, and 
was buried in the same grave with him. The ceremonies of his 
funeral were magnificent, and he was buried in the church of San 
Juan, which was destroyed by the French in 1811. 

Velasquez was of a rare and admirable character ; he combined 
sweetness of temper, freedom from jealousy, and power to conciliate, 
with strength of intellect and will and steadfastness of purpose. 
He was one of Nature's noblemen, in the full, broad sense of that 
word. Stirling, in his "Artists of Spain," says of him: "He was 
the friend of Rubens the most generous, and of Ribera the most 
jealous, of the brethren of his craft; and he was the friend and pro- 
tector of Cano and Murillo, who, next to himself, were the greatest 
painters of Spain. The favorite of Philip IV., — in fact, his minis- 
ter for artistic affairs, — he filled this position with a purity and a 
disinterestedness very uncommon in counsellors of state ; and to 
befriend an artist less fortunate than himself was one of the last 
acts of his amiable and glorious life." When Velasquez is simply 
called the greatest painter of Spain full justice is not done him, 
for he was also the noblest and most commanding man among the 
artists of his country. 

Naturally, from Velasquez' position at court, a large proportion of 



^46 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

his works were portraits of exalted personages. Those are in groups, 
single figures, and equestrian portraits; and frequently the groups 
were so arranged as to perpetuate the memory of historical events. 
He also painted landscapes which have been favorably compared 
with those of Claude Lorraine. Unlike Rubens, who had a certain 
manner in all his works, Velasquez changed his handling to suil his 
subject, instead of suiting his subject to his handling; the borsea 
that he painted were as well done as the men who rode them. He 
may lie compared with Teniers as a painter of scenes from common 
life. "His fruit-pieces equal those of Sanchez Cotan or Van Kessel; 
and his doo-s might do battle with the dou's of Snyders." 

In the Gallery of Madrid there is no separate portrait of Velasquez, 
though there are such at Florence. Munich, and Paris; that in the 
"Maids of Honor." painted in 1656, is the latest and most authentic 
one; another, painted ten years earlier, is in the historical picture 
of the '• Surrender of Breda." which was his greatest work of this 
kind. In the centre of the picture the governor of the conquered 
city delivers the keys to the great Spinola, while the Spanish and 
Flemish soldiers are on either side. The landscape of this painting. 
which is a broad scene in the Netherlands, would make an admirable 
picture were there no figures in it. 

The pictures by Yelasfjuez number two hundred ami nineteen : they 
are seen in all the important galleries of Europe, though the finest 
collection is at Madrid. His works arc very rarely sold, and when 
they do change owners, enormous prices are paid for them. 

I cannot conclude this account of Velasquez in more fitting words 
than these from Mrs. Jameson: — 

"There is something in the history of this painter which fills the imagination 
like a gorgeous romance. In the very sound of his nann — Don Diego Rodriguez 
YelasipK-x de Silva — there is something mouth-filling ami magnificent When 
we read of his tine chivalrous qualities, his noble birth, his riches, his palaces, his 



STORIES OF AET AND ARTISTS. 247 

orders of knighthood, and, what is most rare, the -warm, real, steady friendship of 
a King, and added to this a long life, crowned with genius, felicity, and fame, — it 
seems almost beyond the lot of humanity. I know of nothing to be compared with 
it but the history of Eubens, his friend and contemporary, whom he resembled in 
character and fortune, and in that union of rare talents with practical good sense 
which insures success in life." 



MUEILLO. 

Baetolome Estevan Murillo Avas the son of Gaspar Estevan 
and Maria Perez, and was called Murillo for his grandmother on 
his mother's side, as it was a custom in that section of Spain known 
as Andalusia to give children the family names of the mother's 
immediate or more remote ancestors. Murillo was born at Seville 
during the last days of the year 1617, and was baptized on New 
Year's Day, 1618. Thus he was eighteen years younger than Ve- 
lasquez, whom he outlived twenty-two years. He died hi Seville, 
in 1682. 

It has been said that the familv of Murillo was once rich, though 
this was not the case when he was born. But though his parents 
were poor, they were respectably connected, and decided, when their 
son was still a child, to educate him for the Church. This proved 
to be impossible ; for when sent to school, he so neglected his books 
that he scarcely learned to read or write, though he could draw 
such pictures as showed that Nature had made him an artist. For- 
tunately for the child, his uncle Juan de Castillo was one of the 
leading painters of Seville, and was only too happy to teach his 
nephew the pure and dignified art which he himself practised. The 
aptness and industry of the boy soon made him a favorite pupil ; and 
Castillo carefully taught him • to prepare his canvas and his colors, and 
to do many things then necessary for an artist to know, but which 
are now done for them by other workmen. 



248 .STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Murillo's earliest pictures represented fruit, game, and various 
utensils; but before be left Castillo's studio be painted two Madonnas, 
which are still preserved in Seville. About 1G40 Castillo removed 
to Cadiz, and Murillo was left penniless and alone ; for his parents 
were probably dead, as nothing more is known of them, and the 
young artist seems to have had no assistance from any source. 

In some respects the customs of the artists of Seville resembled 
those of the Greeks, who placed their pictures on exhibition in public 
places, where they could overhear the opinions expressed by those 
who saw them. It sometimes happened that a good work thus ex- 
posed brought an artist speedily to public notice : and in Seville 
the patronage of a wealthy noble, or of a cathedral chapter, might 
be gained in this way. The weekly market of Seville, called the 
Feria, was held in front of the Church of All Saints. It was attended 
by hundreds of people of all conditions, from gypsies and country 
rustics to monks and well-to-do citizens. To the Feria flocked the 
poor artists, displaying their works, and, with brushes in band, chang- 
ing them to please the taste of chance customers, and receiving orders 
for still other pictures. Here Murillo worked about two years, and 
having painted a great number of Madonnas, banners, flower-pieces, 
and the like, he sold them all to a ship-owner to be sent to Mexico 
or South America, and started for Madrid, filled with a desire to see 
better pictures than existed in Seville. 

Doubtless this determination to travel bad largely grown from 
hearing the tales told by Pedro de Moya, who had been his fellow- 
pupil under Castillo, but afterward had joined the Spanish infantry. 
After campaigning in Flanders, Moya had gone to London, and con- 
tinued bis art-studies under Vandyck. He never wearied of telling 
Murillo of all the wondrous pictures he had seen, and at last the 
latter could no longer endure the narrow boundaries of Seville 
and the dreadful drudgery of the Feria. He went on foot across 




BEGGAR-BOYS AT PLAY. (PAINTED BY MURILLO.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 251 

the grand old Sierras to Madrid, and arrived there without money 
or friends ; but he had heard much of Velasquez, who was a Sevil- 
lian like himself, and a favorite with the Spanish monarch. To this 
great man Murillo made his way, and asked for his advice and 
letters to his friends in Rome, — for to that city the young painter 
wished to go. We can fancy the interview, — the young man all 
enthusiasm, and ready to brave every hardship to see the world and 
rise in his art ; the elder one more calm, and knowing how slowly 
one should make haste, yet interested from the first in his young 
countryman. They talked long and freely. Velasquez wished to 
hear of all that was being done in Seville, and Murillo opened his 
heart to the kind and patient listener he had found. The result 
was that Velasquez took the youth to his own house, and gave him 
freedom to study in the galleries of Madrid. 

In these galleries, therefore, Murillo worked early and late during 
almost three years. Velasquez was frequently absent on journeys 
with the king ; but when he was in Madrid he freely gave his ad- 
vice and assistance to the zealous pupil, and when the copies reached 
a certain excellence, he generously brought them and their author 
to the notice of the sovereign. 

At length Velasquez thought the time had come for Murillo to 
go to Rome, and offered him assistance for the journey. But Murillo 
had determined to return to Seville ; and in 1645 he settled himself 
there, never leaving it again for any considerable time. The city 
of Seville had formerly been the capital of Spain, and was rich in 
historical associations, architectural beauties, and treasures of many 
kinds. There were a hundred and sixty towers upon the old Saracenic 
walls of the city ; the fair Guadalquivir was here bordered by gardens 
yielding luscious fruits, gorgeous flowers, and rich perfumes ; the 
Moorish mosques were converted into churches, and upon one hun- 
dred and forty altars incense was ever burning. In Murillo's time 



252 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Seville was the richest city under the Spanish rule; and the Duke 
of Alcala, who had great wealth, and was himself a scholar and 
painter as well as a soldier, made his palace a home for those who 
loved art and letters. 

The Franciscan monks of Seville had a fine convent ornamented 
with three hundred marble columns, and about the time of Murillo'a 
return to his native city they had collected a sum of money for the 
decoration of its minor cloister. The price they offered for the work 
was too small to tempt such artists as had made their reputations, 
but it proved the key to fame and fortune to Murillo, who under- 
took the work. He painted eleven pictures, which occupied almost 
three years' time ; but when they were completed, he held the first 
place among the artists of Seville. Nobles strove with one another for 
his pictures, and desired to have their portraits from his hand, while 
monks and priests overwhelmed him with orders for altar-pieces. 
For one hundred and seventy years these pictures were the pride 
of Seville, until Marshal Soult carried all but one of them beyond 
the Pyrenees and scattered them throughout Europe. It makes this 
Marshal of France no less a robber that the result of this sacrilege 
was a blessing; for soon after he had stolen these paintings the 
convent was burned. 

Not long after the painting of these Franciscan pictures, Murillo 
was married to a maiden of Pilas. He was painting an altar-piece 
in this village, when he first saw Dona Beatriz de Cabrera y Soto- 
mayor. She was of a high family, and had a fortune; and from 
the time of their marriage Murillo's house was one of the most agree- 
able in Seville, and his position in society was elevated and secured 
by the associations and influence of his wife as it could have been 
by no patronage or friendships. Thenceforth the domestic life of 
the great painter was peaceful and happy, and the management of 
his household was dignified and prudent. History does not give 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 253 

us any special account of Dona Beatriz, neither is there any picture 
which is known to be her portrait ; but a resemblance in the faces 
of several of Murillo's Madonnas indicates that they were painted 
from one model, and this has led to the belief that they preserve 
the likeness of his wife. It is certain that his sons, Gaspar and 
Gabriel, were models for his pictures of the Infant Jesus and Saint 
John j and it is said that some of his most beautiful representations 
of the Virgin were portraits of his daughter Francesca. 

From the time of his marriage, the history of his pictures made 
the story of his life, which was varied only by his association with 
the Academy of Seville. But what a volume could his pictures tell 
of thought and of work, numbering, as they do, three hundred and 
eighty !. How many days and hours of intense labor do they rep- 
resent, and what a noble monument they are to his genius and his 
industry ! It is probable, too, that since his death more money has 
been paid for one picture by him than he received for the entire 
work of his life. One hundred and twenty thousand dollars were 
paid for Murillo's painting called " The Immaculate Conception," 
now in the Louvre. It was bought from the Soult collection; and 
at the time of its sale this was believed to be the largest price ever 
paid for a single picture. 

Murillo painted in three distinct manners, and it is customary 
to divide his career as an artist into periods agreeing with his change 
of style in the treatment of his subjects. His first manner is called 
frio, or cold, and extended to about 1649. A study of his pictures 
gives the impression that during this period he was more or less 
influenced by the styles of the various masters whose works he 
had copied, and was in reality establishing a method of his own. 
This he soon did ; for his artistic powers were too strong to allow 
him to remain an imitator, even of the best painters of the world. 

His second manner, called calido, or warm, extended over about 



254 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

twenty years, and was never entirely given up; for after he adopted 
his third manner, called vaporoso, or vapory, he still painted pictures 
like those of his second period. For this reason there is a marked 
difference in the works of his later years ; and some critics insist 
that his three methods should not be attributed to different periods 
of time, saying rather that he used them for different subjects, — that 
is, the cold, or frio, for gypsies and beggar-boys ; the warm, or cdlido, 
for saints ; and the vapory, or raiwroso, for religious subjects. But 
it is more intelligible to follow the usual method and speak of the 
different periods when each style seems to have ruled his work for 
the time. 

The most important pictures of his first period were those of the 
Franciscan convent ; but the studies of beggar-boys, which belonged 
to this time, are very celebrated works. It is a curious fact that 
not one of these treasures remains in Spain, though they are seen 
in galleries in various other countries of Europe. Nothing can lie 
truer to nature than these pictures of Spanish boys ; they are mar- 
vellous in design and execution. To this earliest period, also, belongs' 
the portrait of the artist which is most admired ; Murillo kept it 
as long as he lived, and it then remained in his family. It is now 
in the Louvre, and several engravings have been made from it : it 
is so painted that it appears to be drawn on one stone slab which 
rests on a second slab, on which Murillo's name is inscribed. 

After the first period in his painting, Murillo's art was almost 
entirely devoted to representations of religious subjects ; he was the 
painter of the Church as truly as Velasquez was the painter of the 
court; indeed, some writer has called Velasquez the painter of Earth, 
and Murillo of Heaven. 

At the beginning of Murillo's second period, his fame was so great 
that he could not accept all the orders that were given him. Large, 
grand Avorks were rapidly sent out from his studio, to be the pride 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 255 

of churches and convents. A remarkable picture in his second, or 
" warm," style was " The Infant Christ appearing to Saint Anthony 
of Padua." The divine Child is represented as descending in a flood 
of glory, surrounded by a band of cherubs. The saint, who is kneel- 
ing, regards the vision with a rapturous expression, and stretches his 
arms toward it. On a table at the side is a vase of white lilies, 
and we are told that birds have been known to peck at them as 
they did at the grapes painted by Zeuxis. 

It is said that the Duke of Wellington offered the canons of the 
Seville cathedral as many gold pieces as could be laid upon the two 
hundred and twenty-five square feet of this picture, if they would 
sell it, which would have amounted to two hundred and forty thou- 
sand dollars ; but this did not tempt the chapter of the cathedral to 
part with their gem. In 1874 the figure of Saint Anthony was cut 
out of this picture and brought to America. It was offered for sale 
to Mr. Schaus, of New York, by two men ; he bought it for two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars, and through the Spanish consul it was restored 
to Seville and replaced in the picture. 

A picture of " Saint Thomas of Villanueva distributing Alms," 
now in the Museum of Seville, is thovight by some to be the best 
work by Murillo ; others prefer El Tinoso, or " Queen Elizabeth of 
Hungary washing the Head of a Leprous Boy." This is in the 
Academy of Saint Fernando of Madrid. These titles give an idea 
of one kind of subject of which this great master painted many pic- 
tures. He received commissions for them from hospitals and reli- 
gious brotherhoods, that placed them where they would teach charity 
and good works to the hundreds who saw them. Few of these now 
remain in their original places, but they are the gems of the various 
galleries to which they belong, that of Seville being richer than all 
others in the works of Murillo. 

Murillo had always cherished a wish to have an Academy of Art 



256 STORIES OF A1!T AND ARTISTS. 

in his native city, but one- circumstance alter another had made it 
impossible to establish one. In 1658, however, he had overcome the 
opposition which certain prominent artists had made to it. and was 
happy in seeing that his wishes would sunn be realized. He used 
all his influence, and worked hard to make the necessary plans and 
arrangements; and on New Year's Day. L660, when he was forty-two 
years old, the first class in this Academy met, Murillo being at its 
head. He remained in this responsible position two years, during 
which time a constitution had been adopted and such rules made as 
assured its success. From this time Murillo was less prominent in 
the Academy, but he never lost his interest in it, for through its 
aid he hoped that young artists would escape such hardships as he 
had suffered in his youth, and would be properly instructed in a 
worthy school. 

We cannot trace Murillo's work step by step. His fame became 
so great that an envoy was sent from Madrid to ask him ti> enter 
the royal service. He declined this honor; but some of his works had 
been sent to the capital, and had there won for him the admiration 
of Italians as well as of his own countrymen. He was called a 
second Paul Veronese. During his later life he lived in much com- 
fort in a beautiful house near the Moorish wall of the city, not far 
from the church of Santa Cruz. This house is still preserved, and 
can he visited by travellers; it was here that he died. 

Murillo's life hail always been pure and good, and in his later 
years he became very devout in his religion: he spent much time 
in prayer, and would often remain in church from midday to twi- 
light, — forgetting all the outer world with its cares and labors. 
He was also very charitable, and gave away so much that when be 
died lie had but seventy crowns in money, lie painted his splen- 
did pictures of saints and beggars to earn money to give to the 
living poor and worthy ones who were always about him. His life 



STOEIES OF AET AND AETISTS. 257 

seemed to be a complete illustration of the words which were placed 
upon his tombstone : " Live as one who is about to die." 

When we understand that this was his habit of life and thought, 
we can see why the pictures that he painted during the last twelve 
years of his life had such a religious influence upon people, and seemed 
to be so full of the spirit of the subjects he painted. These great 
works were done for the Hospital of St. George, called La Caridad, 
and for the Capuchin Church just beyond the walls of Seville. Even 
in the present time La Caridad is a great blessing to the poor. 
The inscription above its entrance says : " This house will stand as 
long as God shall be feared in it, and Jesus Christ be served in the 
persons of His poor. Whoever enters here must leave at the door 
both avarice and pride." There is still in the archives of this hos- 
pital an autograph letter from Murillo, in which he asks to be ad- 
mitted a member of the brotherhood that bore the cares of this 
house. 

The eight pictures he painted here include the noblest of his works. 
Three only of them remain in their places, the others having been 
stolen by Marshal Soult. Two of the three represent " Moses Striking 
the Rock " and the " Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes." 

The pictures which were carried away were the " Queen Elizabeth 
of Hungary washing the Head of a Leprous Boy," " Abraham receiving 
the Angels," " The Prodigal's Return," " The Healing of the Para- 
lytic," and "The Release of Saint Peter." The "Queen Elizabeth," 
now in the Madrid Gallery, shows that saintly sovereign in her 
crown and veil, surrounded by diseased beggars and the brilliant 
ladies of her court, who watch the queen while she cares for the 
suffering boy with her own hands. Few pictures in the world have 
been praised as this has been. It has been said that the boy is 
worthy of the brush of Paul Veronese ; an old woman near by, of 
that of Velasquez ; and the queen herself, of that of Vandyck. The 



258 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

next three works in the above list were sold by Marshal Soull to the 
Duke of Sutherland, and are now in Stafford House. London. "The 
Healing of the Paralytic" is also owned in London, and Soult 
received thirty-two thousand dollars for it. 

When painting the pictures for the Capuchins, Murillo dwelt in 
their convent nearly three years, it is said, without once leaving it. 
He painted for these monks twenty pictures with life-size figures, 
and several smaller works. Seventeen of these are now in the Mu- 
seum of Seville; for the monks had the wisdom to send their pictures 
to Cadiz for safe-keeping, before the "Plunder-master-general of Napo- 
leon," as Soult has been called, could reach them. When the French 
wars were ended, the pictures were returned to Seville. 1 cannot 
speak of them separately, but will say that the Madonna called A" 
Virgen de la Servilleta, or "The Virgin of the Napkin." now in 
the Museum, has this pretty story connected with it. The legend 
is that the cook of the convent grew very fond of Murillo during 
his long service to the artist, and when the time came for them 
to be separated, the cook begged the painter for a keepsake. The 
painter said he had no canvas left; the cook quickly gave him a 
napkin, and asked him to use that; with his usual good-nature Murillo 
assented, and soon painted this picture, which is now one of the 
famous art-treasures of the world. It is not large, and represents 
the Virgin with the Child Jesus, who leans forward, almost out of 
the picture, as if to welcome any one who approaches it. It has 
a brilliant color, and so affects one that it is not easy to turn away 
from it. 

During the later years of his life Murillo painted many other impor- 
tant works, most of them in the vaporoso style. He also painted 
two portraits of himself. One of these has a careworn, weary look: 
the other, in which he holds a crayon in one hand, and a drawing 
in the other, has a happier face. 




MURILLO. (FROM A PORTRAIT PAINTED BY HIMSELF.) 



STOEIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 261 

Six years before his death Murillo saw his only daughter, Fran- 
cesca, bid farewell to the world, and enter a convent. It is said 
that he had represented her face more than once in the pictures of 
the Madonna. His son Gaspar was a canon at Seville ; and Gabriel, 
also a priest, had gone to America, where all traces of him were lost. 
Gabriel was a good painter, and imitated the style of his father, 
but made no reputation as an artist. 

So it happened that in his last clays Murillo was left alone with 
his art and his religion to a quiet, peaceful life, interrupted only 
by orders for new pictures, and occasional honorable reminders that 
his fame was growing greater and extending itself more and more. 
When his end came, he was employed on an altar-piece for the cathe- 
dral of Cadiz. While on a scaffolding before this picture, he fell 
and so injured himself that he lived but a short time. He made 
his will, but grew worse so rapidly that he could not sign it ; and 
he died in the arms of his friends, with his son Gaspar by his side. 

His funeral was attended with great pomp. Two marquises and 
four knights bore his bier, and a procession of true mourners followed 
him to his grave. He had requested that he might be buried in a 
chapel of the church of Santa Cruz, beneath Campana's picture of 
the "Descent from the Cross," — a spot where in life he had often 
knelt to pray. The French destroyed this church, but the tablet 
which is placed in a wall near by points out the place of Murillo's 
burial. In the Plaza del Museo, near the museum in which so many 
of his works now hang, the city of Seville has erected a stately 
bronze statue of Murillo. 

It is a singular fact that both the church of Santa Cruz and that 
of San Juan, at Madrid, in which Velasquez was buried, should have 
been destroyed. From this coincidence we are led to think of the 
very many points of similarity in the characters and lives of these 
two artists. Each had an admirable character, and each met the 



2(32 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

recognition which his virtues merited. As artists, each had a large 
following of personal friends, and exercised a great influence upon 
the art of their country. Velasquez was much associated with royal 
personages, and lived a life which made him prominent among men ; 
and though Murillo put aside a court life by his own choice, he 
received many flattering acknowledgments of his genius, and was :\\«> 
much considered by those of high rank in the church, — an equal 
honor in Spain with court prestige. 

Another point of resemblance between these two great Spaniards 
was their desire to help others; for to individuals and to all that 
led to the advancement of art, they were equally generous and un- 
selfish. It chanced, singularly enough, that their two slaves and 
color-grinders became painters, and were treated with equal kindness 
by their owners. The slave of Velasquez was Juan de Pareja, a na- 
tive of Spanish America. He secretly practised painting, and mi one 
occasion, when King Philip visited the studio of his master, Pareja 
showed the king a picture which he had finished, and throwing liini- 
self on his knees, begged his majesty's pardon for his audacity. Philip 
and Velasquez treated him with kindness, and gave him his freedom, 
but he served his master as long as he lived. The works of Pareja 
are not numerous; a few are seen in the Spanish galleries, and there 
is one in the Hermitage, in St. Petersburg. 

Tbe slave of Murillo was a mulatto, named Sebastian Gomez, lie 
painted in secret until he ventured to finish a head which Murillo 
had sketched and left on his easel. The master did not resent tins 
freedom, but was happy to have made Gomez an artist. The works 
of Gomez are full of faults, but their color is much like that of 
Murillo. He died soon after his master, and but few of his pictures 
are known. 

Another charactersitic which Velasquez and Murillo had in common 
was versatility of talents: for it is true of Murillo. as of Velasquez. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 263 

that he painted all sorts of subjects, and his landscapes were inferior 
to those of no Spanish painter except Velasquez himself. This va- 
riety in his art is in danger of being forgotten when we speak of 
Murillo, because his fame rests so largely upon his religious works. 
It is none the less true that the few portraits which he painted 
are above praise, and in England and other countries he was first 
famous for his beggar-boys and kindred subjects, painted in his 
early days and in his first manner. 

The color of his pictures is remarkable, and his power of repre- 
senting the beauty of childhood, youth, and womanhood gives him 
the same place among Spanish painters that Correggio holds among 
those of Italy. Perhaps, after all, the quality of Murillo which has 
gained the truest admiration for him is his ability to make the 
loftiest subjects plain to the uneducated mind. To sum up all, whether 
we regard him as an artist or as a man, we can use no words but 
those of praise. 

ALONSO CANO. 

This artist is sometimes called the "Michael Angelo of Spain," 
because he was an architect, sculptor, and painter. He was born 
at Granada in 1601, and died in 1667. He studied painting under 
Pacheco, Herrera the elder, and Castillo, the same masters who in- 
structed Velasquez and Murillo. As a sculptor, Cano was the pupil 
of Montanes, a famous artist. His architectural work was princi- 
pally confined to retables, or altar-screens ; and these he finished with 
heavy ornamentation. Some fine architectural drawings from his 
hand are in the Louvre, and are simple and elegant in style; his 
versatile talents secured him a high rank among artists. 

He had, however, a very turbulent temper, which made others 
unwilling to interfere with him, as he hesitated at nothing when 



264 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

angry. In 1637 he fought a duel and fled to Madrid, where Velasquez 
treated him with great kindness. In 1 644 Cano's wife was found 
murdered in her bed, and he was suspected of the crime; but though 
he was put to the torture, he made no confession, and was released 
as an innocent man. He still held his office as one of the painters 
of the king, was drawing-master to Don Carlos, and had employmeni 
on important works; but he decided to give up all these advantages 
and go to Granada. Here his fiery temper led him intu more difficul- 
ties; but he was repeatedly employed by wealthy persons and by 
religious bodies, though he gave away so much money in charity that 
his purse was often empty. When this was the case, and he wished 
to do a kindness, he would go into a shop and beg for pen and 
paper ; he would then make a drawing, and mark a price upon it ; 
this he would give to the needy person, with directions as to where 
a purchaser could be found. Large numbers of these charitable art- 
works were collected after his death. 

He was determined to be well paid for his work ; and on one 
occasion, when he had made an image for an auditor in chancery 
in Granada, his price was disputed. Cano demanded one hundred 
doubloons. The auditor asked how much time had been spent in 
making the image ; Cano replied, — 

" Some five and twenty days." 

" Ah," said the auditor, " you demand four doubloons a day ! " 

" You are wrong," replied Cano ; " for I have spent fifty years 
in learning to carve such an image in these few days." 

<fc Very well," answered the auditor ; " I have spent my life in 
fitting myself for a higher profession than yours, and now am satisfied 
if I get one doubloon a day." 

At this Cano flew into a passion, exclaiming. — 

" A higher profession, indeed ! The king can make judges out 
of the dust of the earth, but God alone can make an Alonso Cano ! " 



STOEIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 265 

And he dashed the image upon the pavement, where it fell with 
such force that the auditor ran away as fast as he could, fearing that 
Cano might throw him down next. 

Cano loved sculpture better than painting, and when weary of 
his brush he often took up his chisel for rest. 

Very little can be known of the sculpture of Cano except by going 
to Spain. It is very beautiful, and some of his work has been com- 
pared favorably with that of Beuvenuto Cellini. His masterpiece 
in carving is in the sacristy of the cathedral of Granada, and is a 
statue of the Virgin, about a foot in height ; but wherever his sculpture 
is seen in the churches of Spain it commands admiration. 

There are portraits of Cano in the galleries of Madrid and in the 
Louvre. His pictures are not numerous, and are .mostly in Spain, 
though a few which were carried off by Soult are seen in other coun- 
tries. One of his latest works was a Madonna, which now hangs in 
a chapel of the cathedral of Seville, and is lighted only by votive 
tapers. It is finished with great care, and is a worthy crown to 
the many labors of his stormy but benevolent life. 



FEENCH PAINTERS. 




RENCH art has not so early a date for its beginnings as has 
that of Italy or Germany, but, like Spanish art, can be 
traced back to about the middle of the fifteenth century. 
At first, architecture was more important with the French than either 
painting or sculpture. Many splendid edifices may still be seen in 
France which were decorated by artists from Italy or the Netherlands, 
whom the French sovereigns invited to their courts before they had 
artists of their own. 

NICHOLAS POUSSIN, 

who was born at Anderlys in Normandy, in 1594, was the first great 
French painter. He must, indeed, be said to be partly of the Italian 
school, for while still quite young he made his way to Rome, in 
spite of great poverty and many hardships. There he studied, and 
really formed his style from anticpie art and the works of Raphael. 
In spite of many adversities from which he suffered, lie made such 
a reputation in Rome that his fame reached France ; and at the 
recpiest of Louis XIII. he returned to his native country. He was 
lodged in the Palace of the Tuileries and received many honors. 
But he longed for Rome, and soon asked leave to go there for 
his wife, who had remained behind; and as King Louis died shortly 
after, Poussin never returned to France. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 267 

This master was very simple in his tastes and devoted to art. 
He received more orders for pictures than he could fill, but he was 
never rich. 

CLAUDE LORRAINE, 

whose real name was Claude Gelee, was born in the town of Chamagne, 
in the Duchy of Lorraine, in 1600. There are various accounts of 
his youth and of the way in which he came to be a painter. We 
know that his parents were poor and had a large family, and that 
they died while Claude was still young. 

One story is that both his parents died when he was about twelve 
years old, and that he made his way to Freiburg, beyond the Vosges 
mountains and the Rhine valley, where his elder brother Jean was 
settled as an engraver and wood-carver. Claude, who had been a 
very stupid boy over his books, now showed a true artistic talent ; 
so much so that a relative of his who was a lace-merchant, and 
on his way to Rome, proposed to take the lad to that great city, 
where he could learn much more of art than was known in the Black 
Forest. Jean Gelee consented, and Claude departed on his journey. 

Very soon the lace-merchant was forced to leave him, and Claude, 
a boy of fourteen, found himself alone, with little money and no 
friends. He began, however, to study the works of art which were 
about him on every side, and made copies of some paintings. His 
brother sent him a little money, and he earned what he could by 
acting as color-grinder in the studios, all the while profiting by the 
conversations which he there heard, and by watching the manner 
in which others painted. During his fourth year in Rome his brother 
was obliged to say that he could send him no more money, and 
then Claude set out for Naples, where he remained about two years. 
Here he was in the midst of beauties such as he had not seen, and 



268 STORIES OF AET AND ARTISTS. 

was deeply moved by them. In many of his pictures the Bay of 
Naples is seen, painted always with a loving heart. 

About 1020 Claude returned to Rome and entered the service 
of Agostino Tassi. This artist was a great favorite in Rome, and 
all the chief men of the city visited him and conversed upon all the 
important topics and events of that notable time. Claude listened 
and profited by what he heard, and conducted himself in such a 
manner that Tassi came to regard him as an adopted son. But 
all that he learned of painting from Tassi or any other master was 
of little account in comparison with that which he gained from 
Nature. Earl}' in the morning, and late at night. — at all times, in 
season and out of season, — he was accustomed to go forth, beyond 
the city streets out on the Campagna, where he could study sunlighl 
and starlight, note the changes of the seasons, and become familiar 
with all the varying features of the landscape. 

In 1025 he determined to return to France. He was absent from 
Rome for more than two years, during which time he met with 
many sad experiences ; he was ill, and was twice robbed of all that 
he had in the world, so that on his return to Rome he was forced 
to tarry in Marseilles and earn the money to complete his journey. 
Meantime he had seen Venice, and studied its scenery and its works of 
art ; he had delighted in the magic coloring of the great Titian, and in 
the brilliancy which sea and sky take on in that city of the Adriatic. 

When he returned to Rome, in 1027. Nicholas Poussin was the 
leader of the Society of French Artists there, and Claude became one 
of the circle which felt the influence of that master. 

In spite of his close study of Nature, Claude rarely painted a pic- 
ture that exactly reproduced any one view that he had seen. He 
used his colors and made sketches out-of-doors, and kept in his 
studio many of these exact copies of scenery ; but he made tip 1 1 is 
pictures by taking bits here and there from various sketches. He was 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 271 

accustomed to consult one very large work that he had painted, which 
represented the country about Villa Madama on Mount Mario. It was 
finished with great exactness, and had in it nearly every variety of 
foliage found in Central Italy, so that he could turn to it for models 
of leaves or trees. Pope Clement IX. wished to buy that picture, 
and offered Claude as many gold pieces as would cover it ; but even 
for so large a price Claude would not sell it. At length the talents 
of this master began to be recognized, and slowly and surely he 
rose to such a position that he could afford a studio on the Pincian 
Hill, near that of Poussin. Here he worked industriously upon 
pictures, which were rapidly sold. 

At length it happened that the attention of the great Cardinal 
Bentivoglio, the confidential friend of Pope Urban VIII., was drawn 
to Claude's pictures. He ordered some works for himself, and when 
the Pope saw them in the cardinal's palace he summoned Claude to 
an interview, and asked him to paint four pictures for his own palace ; 
from that hour the fame and fortune of Lorraine advanced from 
one height to another with no lagging pace. Orders now came to 
him from sovereigns and those of highest places in Church and State ; 
and soon such value was put upon his works that none but the 
wealthiest could buy them. His studio was visited by all persons 
of distinction in Eome ; and in 1636, while still a young man, Claude 
Gelee had reached the very summit of artistic fame. 

It was in this year that Claude made his finest etching. The 
etchings of this artist are about forty-four in number ; they are very 
much valued by collectors, and good impressions are so rare that 
they are sold for several hundred dollars each. 

When Lorraine became the landscape-painter of the world, and 
his pictures commanded great prices, other artists began to imitate 
his works as nearly as possible, and to sell them for originals. To 
remedy this evil, Claude prepared a Liber Veritatis, or "Book of 



272 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Truth." in which he made outline sketches of every picture that he 
painted, and wrote upon them the names of the persons for whom they 
were made and the places to which they were sent. After that, it was 
easy to detect the counterfeits by reference to these drawings. At 
the time of his death these sketches numbered more than two hun- 
dred. They were preserved for a long time by his heirs, but were 
at length purchased by a Frenchman who took them to Paris and 
offered them to the king; his Majesty, however, did not buy them, 
and they were afterward purchased by an English nobleman, the 
Duke of Devonshire. There are many other drawings by Claude in 
existence, and all are regarded as very valuable. 

Claude Lorraine lived about sixty years in Rome, devoting all his 
powers to the pursuit of his beloved art. 

There is one anecdote told of him which shows his quiet nature 
more than any other circumstance of which we know. He had but a 
single pupil in all his life. This was a poor cripple named Giovanni Do- 
menico. Claude remembered with so much gratitude all that Agostino 
Tassi had done for him, that he wished to bestow like benefits upon 
another. Domenico was bright in mind though deformed in body : 
he learned rapidly, and for twenty-five years remained in Claude's 
studio, being well known in all the city. When he was forty 
years old, some of his master's enemies persuaded him to claim that 
he had executed the best pictures which Claude had sold as his 
own. Domenico left the master's studio and demanded a salary for 
all the years he had passed there. It is difficult to imagine the 
grief this must have caused Claude; he would not. however, contend 
with one whom he had loved, and he gave Domenico the sum for 
which he asked. The traitor died soon after, having had no benefit 
of the fruits of his wickedness. The falsehood of his claim was 
shown to the world by the fact that Claude painted his best pictures 
after Domenico had left him. 



STOEIES OF ART AND AETISTS. 273 

To describe the celebrated works of this master, or to give an 
account of the distinguished persons for whom they were painted, 
would require a volume. Many of these are now in celebrated gal- 
leries, and are visited by all travellers. I have said that the prices he 
received were so large that only the wealthy could own his works ; 
to-dajr their worth is many times doubled. 

Claude Lorraine continued to work to the end of his life. In the 
collection of Queen Victoria there is a picture painted when he was 
almost eighty-two years old. A few months after this was completed 
he suffered an acute attack of gout with much fever, and he died 
November 21, 1682. In July, 1840, his remains were remoA^ed to the 
French church of San Luigi de' Francisi, near the Pantheon, where 
the French Government erected a monument to his memory. 

Many writers upon art have praised the works of Claude Lorraine. 
He is called the prince and poet of landscape-painters, and though 
some imperfections were pointed out from time to time, the testi- 
mony was in his praise until within the present century. Some years 
ago, the English painter Turner declared Lorraine to be a very faulty 
artist, and presented two of his own landscapes to the National 
Gallery in London, on condition that they should be hung between 
two works by Claude. Ruskin has said some severe things of one of 
those works in his " Modern Painters ; " but in spite of Turner and 
Ruskin, the name of Claude Lorraine stands too high in the world of 
art to be brought down to any common level. 

One of his great excellences was in the representation of immense 
space ; another was his color. He seems first to have used a silvery 
gray, over which he painted ; this gives an effect of atmosphere 
which is very real, — an effect rarely seen. His architectural works 
are superb ; but he never painted animals or figures well. He 
was accustomed to say, " I sell my landscapes, but I give away my 
figures." 

18 



274 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Other French painters of the seventeenth century studied in Rome, 
but neither their lives nor their works were of such interest as to 
detain us here. 

ANTOINE WATTEAU. 

This artist was born in 1684 ; and inspired by the picturesque 
costumes and habits of the court of Louis XIV., he broke away from 
all former rules of the artists of his country, and made pictures of 
manners and customs that were distinctly French. From this depar- 
ture by Watteau may be said to date the true French School of Art. 

There is little to be told of the life of Watteau. His importance 
lies in the fact that he was original and earnest ; and while his art 
was not of the loftiest type, he did his work well, and in a manner 
which entitles him to a good rank among painters. Many of his 
pictures represent the fetes and the merry out-of-door life of the court 
of Louis XIV., and reproduce the manners and costumes of that time 
with such exactness as to give them an historical value. 

As a rule, his canvases are small and crowded with figures. They 
show ladies and gentlemen loitering in groups in charming garden- 
temples in the midst of beautiful grounds, dancing on green turf, 
playing games, or promenading in brilliant costumes on the banks of 
quiet streams or beneath the branches of the forest trees; all above 
and around is bright and gay. 

His pictures are seen in some of the principal galleries of Europe, 
and when they are sold they bring large prices. 

JEAN BAPTISTE GREUZE 

was the next French painter of whom I shall speak. He was born in 
1725, and devoted himself chiefly to portrait painting. He excelled 
in pictures of beautiful women and lovely children. His single heads 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 275 

of young girls are his finest works, though there is an affected and 
extravagant air about some of them. His color was always pleasing, 
and some of his pictures are so finely finished that they look as if 
painted upon ivory. 

A few of Greuze's paintings are known the world over. The " Vil- 
lage Betrothal " is sometimes called his masterpiece ; the " Paternal 
Curse " is a celebrated work, and a favorite one is the " Broken Jug;." 

Most of the works of this master are in private galleries, but a few 
are seen in public collections ; his pictures sell for fabulous sums. 

Among the art-students in Paris in 1770 was a young girl, Marie 
Louise Elizabeth Via;ee, known to us as 



MADAME LE BRUN". 

She was born in Paris in 17-55. The father of Elizabeth Vigee was 
a painter of little importance, but he was a favorite with a large circle 
of friends ; and though he died when his daughter was hut twelve years 
old, he had already so encouraged her talent and so interested people 
in her as to make her future easy. She had a few lessons from Greuze 
and others ; but she sought to study Nature for herself, and to follow no 
school or system, — and to this she attributed her success. When but 
sixteen years old, she was brought to public notice by two portraits 
which she painted and presented to the French Academy. 

At the age of twenty Mademoiselle Vigee married Monsieur Le 
Brun, who was a careless and unfortunate man, and who spent all that 
his wife earned. In her memoirs she tells us that when she left 
France, thirteen years after her marriage, she had not twenty francs, 
though she had earned more than a million. 

Madame Le Brun painted portraits of the most eminent people ; and 
between herself and the Queen, Marie Antoinette, there existed a true 



276 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

affection. Their intercourse was that of devoted friends. In the great 
state picture at Versailles, in which Madame Le Brun represented the 
Queen surrounded by her children, one feels the tender sentiment with 
which the artist painted her sovereign and friend. The Qneeu used her 
influence to have Madame Le Brun elected to the Academy ; Vernet also 
favored it, and the unusual honor was paid her of an election before 
her reception-picture was finished. This was a matter of great im- 
portance at that time, as only members of the Academy were allowed 
to exhibit their works at the salons, which are now open to all. 

Many tales were told of Madame Le Brun's extravagance ; but her 
own account of an entertainment which she gave, and which was a 
subject of endless remark, shows how little she merited censure in that 
instance, at least. She relates that she had invited a number of friends 
for an evening, to listen to the reading of a poet. In the afternoon, 
while her brother read to her an account of an ancient Grecian dinner, 
which even gave the rules for cooking. Madame Le Brun determined 
upon improvising a Greek supper for her guests. She first instructed 
her cook as to the preparation of the food, and then she borrowed from 
a dealer, whom she knew, some cups, vases, and lamps, and arranged 
her studio with the effect which only an artist knows how to make. 

Among her guests were to be several very pretty ladies, and they 
were persuaded to wear costumes as much like those of the old Greeks 
as was possible in the short time for preparation. Madame Le Brun 
wore the white blouse in which she always painted, and added a veil 
and crown of flowers. Her little daughter and another child were 
dressed as pages, and carried antique vases. A canopy was hull-- above 
the table, and the guests were placed in picturesque attitudes. The 
whole effect was such that when the later comers readied the door of 
the supper-room they had a delightful surprise; it was as if they had 
been transported to another age and clime. A Greek song was chanted 
to the music of the lyre; and when honey, grapes, and oilier dishes 




MADAME LE BBU2TS POBTBAIT OF HERSELF. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 279 

were served after the Greek manner, the enchantment was complete. 
A member of the company recited odes from a Greek poet of ancient 
times, and all passed off delightfully. 

The fame of this novel affair spread all over Paris, and its mag- 
nificence and cost were said to be marvellous. Some of the court 
ladies asked Madame Le Brun to repeat it ; but she refused, and they 
were disturbed by it. The king was told that the supper cost twenty 
thousand francs, but one of the gentlemen who had been present told 
his Majesty the truth. However, the sum was swelled to forty thou- 
sand by the time the story reached Rome. Madame Le Brun writes : 
" At Vienna the Baroness de Strogonoff told me that I had spent sixty 
thousand francs for my Greek supper ; that at St. Petersburg the price 
was at length fixed at eighty thousand francs ; and the truth is that 
that supper cost me about fifteen francs." 

Early in the year 1789, when the first mutterings of the dreadful 
horrors of the Revolution were heard in France, Madame Le Brun went 
to Italy. She was everywhere received with honor ; and at Florence 
she was asked to paint her own portrait for a gallery whicb is con- 
secrated to the portraits of distinguished painters. After she reached 
Rome she sent the well-known picture with the parted lips showing 
the pearly teeth, and the hand holding the pencil as if drawing. 

Madame Le Brun could not execute all the orders for portraits 
which she received in Rome; and she enjoyed her life in that city 
so much, that she declared that if she could forget France she should 
be the happiest of women. But after three years she was seized 
with the unrest which comes to those who are exiled from their 
native land, and, impelled by this discontent, she went to Vienna. 
There she remained three years ; but again she longed for change and 
went to Russia, where her reception was most flattering. 

She spent six years in Russia, and into this time was crowded much 
of honor, kindness, labor, joy, and sorrow ; for all the professional 



280 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

success which she achieved and the social distinctions which were 
showered upon her could not compensate her for the grief she suffered 
at the marriage of her only child to M. Nigris, — a man whose posi- 
tion did not satisfy her ambition, while he was personally offensive 
to her. When we remember what Madame Le Brim had experienced 
in the case of her own husband, we can fancy her chagrin ai seeing 
her daughter married to a man who had so little self-respect as to 
borrow from the mother of his betrothed wife the money with which 
to pay the necessary marriage fees ! 

Not long after this bitter sorrow, Madame Le Brun turned her 
face towards France. On her journey she was cordially received 
wherever she tarried, and was several times urged to remain in the 
cities which she visited. Her arrival in Paris gave her great joy. 
for as she herself said although dreadful crimes had been committed 
there, and though she deeply mourned for Marie Antoinette ami 
other dear friends, still it was her home, her native land. Soon, how- 
ever, the great changes which had taken place induced a sadness which 
was almost insupportable, and in 1802 she went to England. She 
did not like the country nor admire the people, hut she had the solace 
of the society of many old friends who were living there in exile. 

After three years she returned to Paris to see her daughter, who 
had arrived in that city. Madame Nigris was very beautiful and 
fascinating. She had entirely outlived her passion for her husband, 
and sought her pleasure in a round of gayety and a life which 
separated her very much from her mother. 

In 1808 Madame Le Brun. who was always hard at work and 
never free from sorrow, felt that her health demanded change of 
scene, and she made a journey into Switzerland, of which she wrote 
enthusiastically in her journal. After her return to Paris she bought 
a house at Louveciennes, where she spent much time in a restful 
country life. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 281 

In 1813 M. Le Brun died, and his wife, who had always spoken 
of him with much reserve and discretion, was truly grieved at his 
death. Six years later her daughter died, and soon after her brother, 
leaving her absolutely without near relatives in the world. She 
lived still a score of years, during which her time was principally 
divided between her homes in Paris and Louveciennes, — her grave 
being made in the cemetery of the latter place. Two nieces were 
the solace of her declining years ; and one of them, Madame Tripier 
Le Frouc, who was a portrait-painter, profited much by the counsel 
of Madame Le Brun. 

In her Paris receptions during the later years of her life the most 
distinguished people of the city were accustomed to assemble ; artists, 
men of letters, and men of society here met on common ground, 
and laid aside all differences of opinion. Only good feeling and 
equality found a place near this gifted woman, and few people are so 
sincerely mourned as was Madame Le Brun when she died, at the age 
of eighty-seven. 

Her works numbered six hundred and sixty portraits, fifteen pic- 
tures, and about two hundred landscapes from sketches made in her 
travels. Her portraits included those of the sovereigns and royal 
families of all the different nations in Europe, as well as those of fa- 
mous authors, artists, musicians, and learned men in Church and State. 
She was a member of eight academies, and her works are seen in many 
fine collections. As an artist, we cannot admire Madame Le Brun 
as much as did many of her own day, but she holds an honorable 
place in general art, and a high position among women artists. 



282 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



EMILE JEAN HOJ5ACE VERNET, 

commonly called Horace Vernet, was born in Paris in 1780. As a boy, 
Horace was the pupil of his father, and before he was fifteen years old 
he supported himself by his own drawings. 

The "Taking of a Redoubt" was one of his earliest pictures of a 
military subject, and from that beginning he devoted himself to the 
painting of military scenes. Horace Vernet married when but twentj 
years old, and soon after began to keep an exact account of all the 
moneys he received or spent. In this record the growth of his fame is 
shown by the increase in the prices which were paid him for his 
pictures ; they vary from twenty-four sous — or about a quarter of a 
dollar — for a sketch of a tulip, to fifty thousand francs (ten thousand 
dollars) for a portrait of the Empress of Russia. 

When twenty-three years old. he began to receive orders from the 
King of Westphalia and other persons of rank. In 1814, when twenty- 
five, he fought on the Barriere Clichy in company with his father and 
other artists, and for his gallant conduct there he received the (Vos< of 
the Legion of Honor from the Emperor's own hand. In 1 SI 7 Vernet 
painted the "Battle of Tolosa." which was the beginning of hifl 
triumphs; for he soon became the favorite of the Duke of Orleans 
(afterward king Loius Philippe), whose portrait lie painted in various 
costumes and characters. Vernet. was not in favor witli the Bourbons, 
however, and as he had made some lithographs which were displeasing 
to the king, it seemed best for him to leave Paris. He went to Rome 
with his father and remained there for some time. 

After his return to Paris, in 1S22. Vernet exhibited forty-five of his 
pictures in his own studio. After the exhibition of his works orders 
and money came to him abundantly, and in the year 1824 he received 
nearly fifty-two thousand francs. About this time Vernet painted the 




THE DOG OF THE REGIMENT. (AFTER A PAINTIXG BY HORACE VEHXET.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 285 

portraits of some distinguished persons, among others receiving an 
order for one of Charles X. ; this made his portraits so much the fash- 
ion that he could not receive all who wished to sit to him. He took 
time, however, to paint some battle-scenes, and in 1825 finished the 
last of four which the Duke of Orleans had ordered to be placed in the 
Palais Koyal. 

In 1828 Horace Vernet was appointed Director of the French 
Academy in Rome. He lived generously, and held weekly receptions, 
which were attended by artists, travellers, and men of distinction ; 
these assemblies were very gay, and it seemed as if a bit of Paris had 
been set down in the midst of the Eternal City. Vernet now painted 
a greater variety of subjects than before, but he made no advance in 
serious work. He soon grew very impatient of his life in Rome, 
though it was full of honor. He wished to follow the French army, 
and study new subjects for such pictures as he loved best. 

In 1833 he was relieved from his office, and went to Algiers. There 
were no active military operations, but Vernet made many sketches 
and painted some Eastern scenes. During the same year, Louis 
Philippe ordered the Palace of Versailles to be converted into an 
historical museum. The King wished Horace Vernet to paint pictures 
of the battles of Friedland, Jena, and Wagram. There were, however, 
no wall-spaces in the palace large enough to satisfy Vernet, and for 
that reason two stories were thrown together, and a great Gallery of 
Battle-pieces made. 

Louis Philippe desired Vernet to introduce a certain incident into 
one of his pictures, which Vernet refused to do. He therefore left 
Paris for St. Petersburg, where he was received with much honor. He 
was, however, much missed at Versailles, and when suddenly called to 
Paris by the illness of his father, was respectfully reinstated at the 
palace. When the news of the taking of the city of Constantine was 
received, he was sent officially to Algiers to make sketches for his 



286 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

pictures in the Salon of Constantine, which in the end became a vast 
monument to this artist. In 1839 Vernet went to Egypt. Syria, and 
Turkey, and again to Russia, where lie made a long journey with the 
Emperor. He was a great favorite with this sovereign, though he did 
not always agree with his Majesty. It is possible that this indepen- 
dence of thought was really welcome to one who was too much feared 
to be often addressed with such frankness as Vernet used. While in 
Russia he painted the portrait of the Empress, and received many 
valuable presents. 

After his return to Paris, Vernet devoted himself to portrait-paint- 
ing ; but his old love was too strong to be resisted, and in 1845 he 
joined the French army in the Spanish valley of Aran. The troops 
received him witli much enthusiasm ; for they honored him as the great 
painter of their hardships, their bravery, and their victories. During 
all his life he received with true modesty the honors that were paid 
him, and in this manifested the sterling common-sense quality of his 
character. 

Horace Vernet died in 1863, full of years and of honors. 

Vernet was forced to earn his living when so young that he had no 
opportunity for study, but his quick perception and active mind, with 
his large opportunities for observation, made him an acceptable com- 
panion to men of culture and learning. He was not a poet nor 
a true artist in the highest sense of the term : his art was not im- 
aginative nor creative; he produced no beautiful pictures from deep 
resources in his own nature ; but his works have great value and 
interest as a true record of events, and he commands our respect as 
one who made the best use of all his powers. Vernet. it must be con- 
fessed, was a trifle vain, and loved to upset a box which contained all 
his decorations, and spill them out pell-mell as if these ribands and 
stars, which were the rewards of his life-work, were of no value. 
Cheerfulness and industry were two of his chief characteristics. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 287 

Vernet's most remarkable gift was his memory ; lie has never been 
surpassed in this regard by any other painter, and it is doubtful if any 
other has equalled him. He remembered things exactly as he had seen 
them. If he spoke with a soldier, although he knew neither his 
name nor any facts about the man, yet long afterward the memory of 
the artist held a model from which he could paint the face of that 
particular soldier. 

Vernet painted action well ; he knew how to suit the folds and 
creases of his stuffs to the positions of the men who wore them ; his 
color was good, when we remember what colors enter into military sub- 
jects, for the crude brilliancy of the reds and yellows in gaudy uniforms 
are not suited to poetic effects of color. 



JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID, 

born in Paris in 1748, was, at the close of the last century, considered 
the first French painter of his time. So great was his influence upon 
the painting of France, that for some years he was an absolute dic- 
tator regarding all matters connected with it. He was a figure- 
painter, and painted but one landscape in his life. . Many of his 
pictures seem to be mere groups of statues ; their flesh is as hard as 
marble, and there is nothing in them that appeals to our sympathy or 
elevates our feeling. 

David became the friend of Napoleon, and painted the " Passage of 
St. Bernard " and other scenes from the life of the Emperor. After 
the overthrow of Napoleon, David was banished to Brussels, and his 
family were not allowed to bury him in France. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



JEAN DOMINIQUE AUGUSTIN INGKES, 

born at Montauban in 1781, was the most celebrated pupil of David. 
His father was a painter, sculptor, and musician, and desired that his 
son should excel in music. The boy played the violin, and it is said 
that when thirteen years old he was applauded in a theatre in Tou- 
louse. But his love of drawing proved so strong that when seventeen 
years old he entered the studio of David. In 1801 he took the prize 
which entitled him to go to Rome, but his poverty prevented his 
reaching that city until 1806 ; he remained there fourteen years, and 
then passed four years in Florence. 

In 1824 Ingres opened a studio in Paris, and received pupils ; 
a little later he was appointed to the Academy. His work was 
severely criticised, and this so affected his spirits that in 1834 his 
friends obtained his appointment as Director of the French Academy 
in Rome. After holding this office seven years, he went again to 
Paris, and this time in triumph. Ingres was now praised as much as 
he had before been blamed, and until his death was loaded with 
honors, while enormous prices were paid for his works. 

In the great Exposition of 1855, a room was devoted to the pictures 
of Ingres, and he received a grand medal of honor from the jury. 
He had no charity for those who differed from him in opinion. His 
appearance was not agreeable, — his face has always an expression of 
bad temper; but extreme determination of character often gives a 
disagreeable air to a face, and it may be this which disfigures the 
face of Ingres. 

When he first went to Rome he was very poor, and the utmost 
economy of his means was necessary in order to give him a living and 
leisure for the pursuit of his art. In 1813 he married, after which his 
wife stood between him and all the petty troubles of life ; she sold his 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 289 

works for the best possible prices, and by assuming all bis cares gave 
bim quiet clays for labor when be dreamed not of the trials from 
which she saved him by her patient devotion. 

Tbe works of Ingres are very numerous. He painted one picture 
which was sold in England for sixty-three thousand francs, and also 
executed some portraits as well as a few decorative paintings. He was 
without doubt a much greater artist than his master David, but there 
has rarely been an artist concerning whom the opinions of good critics 
differ so widely. Justice would neither unduly exalt nor debase him, 
but accord to him an acknowledgment of all tbat can be attained by 
patience and industry through many years, without tbe inspiration of 
great genius. 

A list of the honors which were showered upon Ingres would be 
almost as long as the catalogue of his pictures ; he was a Senator, a 
Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, a Member of the Institute, as 
well as of six academies, and was decorated by the Orders of several 
countries besides his own. 



HIPPOLYTE DELAEOCHE, 

who is called " Paul Delaroche," was born in Paris in 1797. He 
was a very careful and skilful painter, and made many preparations 
for his work before beginning it. At times he went so far as 
to make wax models for his groups before painting them. He 
had a clear, simple conception of bis subjects, but was not poetical 
nor imaginative. He bad an intellect which would have won suc- 
cess in almost any career that he might have chosen; but he was 
not a genius. 

The masterpiece of Delaroche is a great painting called the " Hemi- 
cycle, " now in tbe theatre of the Palace of the Fine Arts in Paris ; 

19 



290 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

this work is so famous that one thinks of it involuntarily when- 
ever the name of Delaroche is mentioned. This picture has seventy-five 
life-size figures, and the artist spent three years in painting it ; the arts 
of different countries and times are represented in it by portraits of the 
artists of those times and nations. 

Among his historical subjects were the " Condemnation of Marie 
Antoinette," " Cromwell Contemplating the Remains of Charles I.," and 
other similar scenes. The interesting study which Delaroche made for 
the " Hemicycle," and from which he and his scholars painted that 
great work, is in the Walters Gallery in Baltimore. When the works 
of Delaroche are sold they bring large prices; his "Lady Jane Grey " 
was sold for one hundred and ten thousand francs, or twenty-two 
thousand dollars. 

Delaroche was a Member of the Institute, an Officer of the Legion 
of Honor, and a Professor in the School of Fine Arts in Paris. 



FERDINAND VICTOR EUGENE DELACROIX, 

another gifted French painter, was born in 1798. While a youth he 
lost a fortune, and was forced to struggle hard for the merest neces- 
saries of existence. However, he had steadfastness and courage, and 
when twenty-three years old he exhibited a picture which attracted 
much attention, and was purchased for the Luxembourg Gallery. 

In 1830 Delacroix travelled in Spain, Algiers, and Morocco, and 
painted a few pictures of scenes in those countries. After his re- 
turn to France, he obtained the commission to decorate the new Throne- 
room in the Chamber of Deputies. This work was severely criticised 
by other artists, but when it was done it was found to be magnifi- 
cent in effect; and from that time Delacroix was prosperous. Seme 
of his large pictures are at Versailles, others are seen in the churches 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 291 

of Paris ; he also received the important commission of decorating 
the Library of the Chamber of Peers. In 1857 he was made a 
Member of the Institute, having received a grand medal of honor 
from the jury of the great Exposition two years earlier. 

The subjects of some of this artist's works were very dramatic, 
and he has been called " the Victor Hugo of painting." There 
is no doubt that his forcible imagination is his most noteworthy 
characteristic. Like all great artists, Delacroix loved space. This 
is shown in his decorative works, such as the ''Apollo Triumphing 
over Python," on the ceiling of the Gallery of Apollo in the Louvre, 
which is one of his masterpieces in this kind of painting, and shows 
him to have been a genius of great dramatic, especially of tragic, 
power ; he excelled in depicting the terrible, which seemed to please 
him more than any other phase of experience. While the impress of 
a master's hand is on his pictures, we are not attracted by them and 
cannot love them. One writer has called Delacroix " the last of 
a grand family of artists," and his name is a fitting one with which 
to close our account of the French School of painting. 



PAINTING IN ENGLAND. 




ING Henry III., who ruled in England from 121 G to 1272, 
was a great patron of art for that early day. Mural, or 
wall, paintings were the chief works of the artists of thai 
time, and the "Painted Chamber" at Westminster was famous for 
its beautiful decorations. We can only judge of it from written de- 
scriptions, since the pictures no longer exist. About 1350, under 
King Edward III., St. Stephen's Chapel in Westminster was richly 
decorated; but while we read of the pictures, nothing is told us of 
the personal history of the English painters of that time. 

In the reign of Henry VII. (1485-1509) many foreign artists wen- 
employed in England. Among these was Jeax Mabuse, several of 

whose works still remain at Hampton Court. He was a g 1 

artist and a witty fellow. It is said that he was in the service 
of the Marquis de Vere when that nobleman was visited by the 
Emperor Charles V. The Marquis gave all his retainers some splen- 
did white-silk damask, that they might make fresh suits in which 
to receive his Majesty. Mabuse. who was always in debt, had great 
need of money just then, and so obtained permission to superintend 
the making of his own costume. He then sold the rich damask be 
had received, and made his suit from paper. He succeeded so well 
in this that all who saw his dress were deceived by it. The joke 
was told to the Marquis, who asked the Emperor to observe the cos- 
tumes of his retainers and say which one pleased him most. Charles 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



29^ 



selected that of Mabnse ; and the painter was obliged to go near 
enouch to his Majesty that he might place his hand upon it before 
he would believe that it was of paper. 

When Henry VIII. came to the throne, he was a magnificent 
prince. He loved pleasure and pomp, and invited many foreign 
artists to his court. He was also a most gallant gentleman, and 




ENTRANCE GATES, 
HAMPTON COURT, ENGLAND 



held tournaments, in which he appeared as a brave knight and a 
champion of fair ladies. After a time he became indifferent to art, 
and cut off the heads of the ladies who displeased him, endeavoring 
to persuade the world that he did this in God's service. He also 
suppressed monasteries, and destroyed so many artistic monuments 
that it is difficult to say whether he lessened or added to the art 
treasures of England. Among the foreign artists who served Henry 
VIII. was Hans Holbein, who passed seventeen years in his service ; 
many of Holbein's portraits are in England, and doubtless many works 



294 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

of other artists are attributed to him. Henry VIII.. while he allowed 
the destruction of pictures and altar-pieces, and permitted the carved 
work in churches to be broken down with axes and hammers, gave 
much attention to architecture; and in spite of his enmity to art. 
on one hand, he so encouraged it on another, that there is a sense in 
which we may say that the establishment of art in England dates 
from his reign. 

The reigns of King Edward VI. and Queen Mary were so brief 
(1547-1558) and so full of religious and political troubles, that little 
advance w r as made in the arts of peace. However, there is one painter 
who is interesting to us in connection with Queen Mary. This was 
Sir Axtoxio More, or Moro, who was a native of Utrecht, and 
painted much in the same manner as Holbein. When quite young 
he went to Spain and entered the service of Charles V.. who sent 
him to Portugal to paint a portrait of Donna Maria, who was be- 
trothed to Philip II. More succeeded so well in this mission that 
some years later he was sent to England to paint the likeness of the 
Princess Mary, who became the second wife of Philip. The portrait 
which he made was beautiful, and some writers say that Mary was a 
very handsome woman. During Mary's life. More remained in Eng- 
land, and then returned to Spain in the service of Philip. 

This king was a proud, haughty man. but he chose to treat More 
in a familiar manner, which led the artist to believe that he would be 
allowed to assume the same easy air towards his Majesty. One day the 
king rested his arm on the shoulder of the painter while he was at 
work; More dipped his brush in carmine, and drew it across the hand of 
the monarch. The courtiers who were present were filled with alarm ; 
the hand of the king was sacred, and even high-born ladies were 
accustomed to kneel in order to salute it. The king looked steadily 
at his hand for some moments ; the courtiers held their breath for 
some instants, for they believed that More's life hung on a thread. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 295 

Soon the king raised his eyes and looked about him with a smile. 
The painter threw himself on his knees, embraced those of the king, 
and kissed his feet in humble atonement for his rash act ; and the 
sovereign appeared to have forgiven him. The officers of the Inquisi- 
tion were then very powerful in Spain, and they believed that the per- 
son of the king was so sacred that it could not be touched by others. 
Therefore when they heard the story of the painter's boldness they 
believed that he had used some magic art by which he had bewitched 
the king. More's friends feared that he might be arrested and even 
put to torture ; they advised him to leave Spain, and he hastily took 
his way to the Netherlands. He had not gone far when a messenger 
from the king overtook him, and told him that Philip much desired 
his return ; but More feared to do so, and continued his journey to 
Flanders, where he entered the service of the Duke of Alva. So many 
of More's portraits exist in England that one is tempted to regard him 
as an English artist. 

The long reign of Queen Elizabeth (forty-seven years) afforded great 
opportunity for the encouragement of art. Most of the painters whom 
she employed were foreigners, whose names and works I will not stay 
to enumerate, as from this time we can give the names of English 
artists who, if not eminent in art, are worthy of remembrance as the 
first painters of their country of whom we can speak with clearness. 

Nicholas Hilliaed, born in 1547, was the first English painter 
whose fame still remains. He was goldsmith and miniature-painter 
to Queen Elizabeth. In the "Old Masters" Exhibition of 1879, in 
London, there were several works attributed to Hilliard, one of which 
was a likeness of the queen. His miniature of Jane Seymour, at 
Windsor, is a rare work. Dr. Donne, praising this painter, wrote : — 

" An hand or eye 
By Hilliard drawn is worth a history e 
By a worse painter made." 



296 STORIES OF ART AM) ARTISTS. 

Isaac Oliver, born in 1556, was a more skilful artist than Ilil- 
liard. He was a painter in the time of .Tames I. His finish of jewels. 
laces, and other details was remarkable, and his works are eagerlj 
sought by collectors of the present time. 

One gentleman of rank, Sii; Nathaniel Bacon, half-brother to the 
great Sir Francis Bacon, devoted himself to painting. His full-length 
portrait of himself belongs to the Earl of Verulam. Ho painted por- 
traits and some mythological subjects; and these works, which were 
much praised by the writers of his day, are now carefully preserved 
by his descendants. He died in 1015. 

King James I. loved ease and pleasure, and had so little taste for 
art that he left it to take its course as best it could. The following 
rhyme was not thought to be unjust to him : — 

"James, both, for empire and for arts unfit, 
His sense a quibble, and a pun his wit, 
Whatever works he patronized, debased ; 
But haply left the pencil undisgraced." 

During his reign the wealthy nobles of England built many line 
palaces; they also employed good foreign artists; and the Duke of 
Buckingham, whose cultivated taste made him a true patron of art. 
exerted an influence upon the young Prince Charles which bore its 
fruit when he became the king. The way was- somewhat prepared for 
Charles during the reign of James, for it was then that Inigo Jones 
built the Whitehall Banqueting House and introduced the architecture 
of the Italian Renaissance into England. 

The best native painter under James was Petee Oliver, son of 
Isaac, born in 1601. He copied some large pictures in water-colors, 
and painted miniatures. These miniatures, which were then much in 
fashion, were usually painted on ivory, and were frequently set in gold 
and jewels, and worn as lockets, brooches, or other personal ornaments. 
When out of style they were thrown aside, and from their delicacy and 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 297 

size were easily injured or lost ; thus it happens that a perfect miniature 
by Hilliard or one of the Olivers is now both rare and very valuable. 

King Charles I. was a true lover of art. Rubens and Vandyck 
were his principal painters, and Inigo Jones his architect ; the choice 
of such artists proves the excellence of his artistic taste and judgment. 
He employed many other foreign artists, of whom we shall only say 
that the English artists profited much by their intercourse with them, 
as well as by the study of foreign pictures which the king purchased. 
Early in his reign, Charles bought the splendid collection of the Duke 
of Mantua, and from time to time acquired many rich works by the 
old masters ; the cartoons of Raphael, which are held as a great 
treasure to England, were purchased by this king, who was also 
equally ready to buy good works by the painters of his own time. 

The Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Arundel were also 
generous patrons of art ; and the reign of Charles I. was a brilliant 
and important period in the art history of England. Unfortunately, 
the political troubles under Charles not only exiled men, but pictures 
and statues as well. A large part of the Buckingham collection was 
removed to Antwerp before the estates of the duke were sequestered, 
in 1649 ; and many of these pictures never again found their way to 
England. 

In the earliest days of the troubles, the Earl of Arundel sent his 
collections to Antwerp ; and in the division of his property after his 
death, his marbles, pictures, gems, and other beautiful objects were so 
scattered that little idea of the original collection can be formed from 
the portions that now exist in different places. The full glory of 
art in England in the early part of the seventeenth century can only 
be known to us from its written history. We can easily understand 
that there might have been no English painters who could compete 
with the splendid foreign masters that served King Charles, for little 
can be said of the works of the native artists of the seventeenth 



298 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

century; but it is also true that what is known as the English School 
of Painting dates from that period. 

"When Charles I. visited Scotland, in 1633, he saw the works of 
George Jamesone, who has been called "The Vandyck of Scotland." 
The king wished to have his own portrait by this master, and as a 
reward for it he gave Jamesone a ring which he drew from his royal 
finger. Jamesone had studied under Rubens in Antwerp, and was a 
fellow-pupil with Vandyck ; his portrait, painted by himself, is in the 
Gallery of Painters in Florence. 

William Dobson. born in London in 1610, was a popular artist 
of this reign. He was a dwarf, but had shifts of mind which atoned 
for his bodily defects. Vandyck saw a picture of Dobson's which so 
pleased him that he called the attention of the king to the young 
artist. After Vandyck' s death, Dobson was appointed Sergeant- 
Painter and Groom of the Privy Chamber ; but he fell into dissipated 
habits, and died when but thirty-six years old. By some writers 
Dobson is named as the earliest English painter of importance. His 
portraits are sometimes attributed to VanclycK, whom he aimed to 
imitate. At Hampton Court there is a fine picture of Dobson and his 
wife, painted by himself. 

WILLIAM HOGARTH. 

Before the time of William Hogarth, portraits had been the only 
pictures of any importance which were painted by English artists, and 
no one painter had become very eminent. No native master had 
originated a manner of painting which he could claim as his own. For 
this reason the name of Hogarth stands first in the history of British 
Art; and though that art was in its infancy, this painter ranks with 
the eminent masters of his class in all countries. 

Hogarth's father kept a school in Ship Court, near Ludgate Hill, 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 299 

London ; and here the painter was born, in 1697. The father was 
always poor ; and the son determined to be a craftsman who could earn 
good wages rather than to be a scholar who could rarely rise above 
poverty. Accordingly, when about fifteen years old Hogarth was 
apprenticed to a silversmith. At first he was taught to engrave coats- 
of-arms ; and the grotesque creatures which are frequent in these designs 
strengthened his natural love for the ridiculous, and made him apt in 
rendering such objects. The exactness which was required in this work 
was of great advantage to him : it not only educated his hand in cun- 
ning skill, but it also trained his eye to observe with the remarkable 
accuracy which is so manifest in his rendering of the details of his 
pictures, in which every peculiarity of person or costume is imitated 
with wonderful truthfulness. It is said that when he saw anything 
that especially interested him he made a sketch of it upon his thumb- 
nail ; but usually he relied on his memory, which rarely failed him. 

When still quite young Hogarth had made a reputation which 
attracted the attention of booksellers, and he was much employed in 
making illustrations for them. After his apprenticeship was ended he 
studied drawing from life in the Academy in St. Martin's Lane, and 
frequented the studio of Sir James Thornhill, who was Sergeant- 
Painter to the King. There is no doubt that Hogarth's manner of 
painting was much influenced by his acquaintance with Sir James ; but 
it is more than probable that the frequent visits of the young artist were 
made to the daughter of Sir James, rather than to that painter himself, 
for in 1730 the young couple were secretly married, and the anger of 
the Court-Painter when he discovered this fact knew no bounds. 

At this period Hogarth painted portraits which always had the 
merit of truthfulness. His own portrait, with his clog Trump beside 
him, is in the National Gallery, and has an air about it that makes us 
as sure that it is an exact likeness of him as we could be if we had 
known him intimately. His portraits seemed to earn a meagre living 



300 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

for him, but his friends believed him to be capable of something better 

than these; and Hogarth himself was constantly dreaming of a time 
when he should give visible form to the fancies which were ever com- 
ing and going in his busy brain. 

In 1734 Hogarth brought out a set of six plates made from bis own 
pictures, which he called " A Harlot's Progress," shortly followed by 
another set of eight plates of "The Rake's Progress." These works 
immediately made him famous ; and when his father-in-law saw them. 
he declared that a man who could paint such pictures could well suppori 
a wife. Soon after, the two painters became the best of friends ; and. in 
truth, Hogarth was now quite as important a person as was the Painter 
to his Majesty. He had originated a manner of his own ; he had 
neither attempted to illustrate stories of Greek mythology nor to 
invent allegories, as so many painters had done before him ; he bad 
simply given form to the Nature that was all about him. and had 
painted just what he could see in London every day. His pictures of 
this sort came to be almost numberless ; and no rank in society, no 
phase of life, escaped the truthful representation of his brush. His 
painting was good, his faces and costumes excellent, and his interiors 
well managed; for while minor objects were introduced, they were not 
made too prominent. 

One of his best and most, famous series of pictures is in the National 
Gallery; it tells the story of Mariage a Lit Mode, or a marriage 
arranged by the parents of two young persons who have no affection for 
each other; the family on one side seek rank, on the other they desire 
money. The satire in these works is enormous ; in each picture of the 
series the same persons are introduced in the various scenes, which 
show the progress of the stoiy he wishes to tell until the end is 
reached. Hogarth was a teacher as well as an artist, for his pictures 
presented the lessons of the follies of his day with more effect upon the 
mass of the people than any writer could produce with his pen. or any 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 301 

preacher by his sermons, though he had a thousand voices. It is true 
that there was much that was amusing, which was felt in spite of this ; 
and many who study them will agree with Charles Lamb, when he 
said of Hogarth that " his chief design was by no means to raise a 
laugh." 

His picture of the " March of the Guards to Finchly " is very 
humorous and full of absurd features. The first plate from this was 
published in 1750 ; the artist intended to dedicate the whole work to 
George II., but that monarch did not relish a satire upon his Guards, 
and when he saw this first picture he declared, " I hate boetry and 
bainting ; neither of them ever did any good." The picture was 
dedicated to the King of Prussia. 

In 1753 Hogarth published his book called " The Analysis of 
Beauty ; " its theories were not accepted with favor, and the author 
was much disturbed by the fierce attacks made upon it. He had some 
personal quarrels which annoyed him exceedingly ; and in 1759 he 
painted for Sir Richard Grosvenor ' the " Sigismunda," now in the 
National Gallery, only to suffer the mortification of having it returned 
to him. But in the midst of these troubles he also received many 
honors; in 1757 he was appointed Sergeant-Painter to the King, and 
thus held the highest position of any artist in the kingdom. 

Hogarth died at his house in Leicester Fields, October 26, 1764. 
He was buried in Chiswick Churchyard, where stands his monument 
inscribed with this epitaph, written by Garrick : — 

" Farewell, great Painter of Mankind ! 

Who reached the noblest point of Art ; 
Whose pictured Morals charm the mind, 

And through the Eye correct the Heart. 
If Genius fire thee, Reader, stay ; 

If Nature touch thee, drop a Tear ; 
If neither move thee, turn away, 

For Hogaeth's honored dust lies here." 



302 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

Lord Orford, writing of Hogarth, says: "It would be suppressing 
the merits of the heart to consider him only as a promoter of laughter. 
Mirth colored his pictures, but benevolence designed them. He smiled, 
like Socrates, that men might not be offended at his lectures, and might 
learn to laugh at their own follies." 

Many of Hogarth's works are in public places, and a large number 
of his own engravings from his pictures are in existence; these arc 
very valuable, as they reproduce the full meaning of his works with a 
force and exactness which no other engraver could give them. 

Hitherto English painters had sadly missed the advantages which 
foreign artists enjoyed in their National Academies of Art. The two 
important benefits of these Academies are that they provide systematic 
instruction for their students, both at home and abroad, and in their 
regular exhibitions enable young artists to bring their works before the 
public. 

It was quite natural that Hogarth should undervalue schools and 
systems of teaching in art ; he had made his way without them. At 
the same time he recognized the advantages of exhibitions, and was 
glad to join other painters in sending pictures to both public and 
private galleries ; and there is no doubt that his influence had much 
to do towards supplying the needs of artists who succeeded him, 
for his success aroused a strong faith and a new interest in the 
native art of England, which showed their results in the establish- 
ment of the Royal Academy of Arts. A little more than four years 
after Hogarth's death, this Academy was founded by George III., 
wdio officially established it December 10, 1708, though he did not 
then give it a Royal Charter of Incorporation. The original members 
of the Academy numbered thirty-four, and among them was — 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



303 



JOSHUA REYNOLDS, 

who was elected its first President. This painter was descended 
from a family in which there had been many clergymen. His paternal 
grandfather, his father, and two uncles were in holy orders, while his 
mother and her mother before her were daughters of clergymen. 




A PORTRAIT. THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE. (BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.) 

Samuel Reynolds, the father of Joshua, was the rector of a grammar 
school at Plympton, in Devonshire ; and in this quaint little hamlet, 
July 16, 1723, was born Joshua, the seventh of the eleven children of 
Samuel Reynolds and his wife Theophila. The boy became a pupil in 
his father's school when very young ; he was not inclined to be a 



304 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

.student in any full sense of the word, but he loved literary exercises, 
and was so good a Latin scholar that in later years Dr. Johnson 
sometimes submitted his Latin compositions to the painter for bis 
approval or criticism. 

When Joshua was but a mere child his father was displeased to find 
him devoted to drawings; on a sketch which the boy had made bis 
father wrote : '-This is drawn by Joshua in school, out of pure idle- 
ness." The child found the "Jesuit's Treatise on Perspective," and 
studied it with such intelligence, that before he was eight years old he 
made a sketch of the school and its cloisters which was so accurate 
that his astonished father exclaimed: "Now, this justifies the author 
of the 'Perspective' when he says that b}* observing the laws laid 
down in his book a man may do wonders ; for this is wonderful." 

The little Joshua read books on Painting which were far beyond his 
years; and Richardson's prophecy of the appearance of a Raphael of 
British Art made his bosom swell with the hope that he might be that 
Raphael. — a name that he reverenced above that of all other great 
men of ancient or modern days. When about twelve years old. 
Joshua, while in church, made a sketch upon his thumb-nail of the 
Rev. Thomas Smart. From this sketch he painted his first picture in 
oils. His canvas was a piece of an old sail, his colors were common 
ship-paint, and he did his work in a boathouse on Cremyll Beach. 

Along with his other varied learning the Rev. Samuel Reynolds had 
acquired a knowledge of pharmacy, which he imparted to Joshua, hop- 
ing to make him an apothecary. This instruction was doubtless a greal 
injury to Joshua, as he afterwards tried to use the knowledge he thus 
gained for the improvement of colors, and was led to the use of such 
preparations as ruined some of his finest works. In 1740, when 
Joshua was seventeen years old, his father tried to carry out his plan 
and apprentice him to a druggist; but the hoy was greatly opposed to 
this. He said : " 1 would prefer to be an apothecary rather than an 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 305 

ordinary painter ; but if I could be bound to an eminent master I 
should choose that." Fortunately Lord Eclgecumbe and other friends 
advised his father in the boy's favor, and he was finally sent to London 
and bound to Thomas Hudson, then the best portrait-painter in 
England. After two years Hudson suddenby dismissed Joshua from 
his studio, though the agreement was for four years : the master said 
that the youth neglected his orders ; but others believed him to be 
jealous of his pupil's success. 

Joshua returned to Devonshire and settled at Plymouth, five miles 
from his home. Here he painted about thirty portraits of the principal 
persons of the neighborhood, at the price of three guineas each. One of 
these portraits, painted in 1746, was shown to him thirty years later, 
when he lamented that he had made so little progress in all that 
time. 

It was natural that the young artist should wish to visit Italy and 
see with his own eyes the works of art of which he had read. But 
the means for travel were not his, and when his father died, in 1746, 
Joshua assumed the support of two of his sisters, and Italy looked like 
an impossibility to him. At the home of his friend Lord Eclgecumbe 
he had formed a friendship with the young Commodore Keppel, who 
was ordered to the Mediterranean in 1749. He invited Reynolds to 
sail with him as his guest ; and this invitation being accepted, the 
painter did not return to England until the end of 1752. He visited 
Portugal, Spain, Algiers, Minorca, Italy, and France. At times 
he painted portraits and received other commissions, which gave 
him the means to prolong his journey. He copied many famous 
pictures, especially in Rome, where he remained about two years, 
devoting himself to study with unfailing zeal and industry. He 
kept diaries during the journey which are very interesting and 
valuable. They contain many sketches of scenes and pictures 
which he admired, as well as his written opinions of all that he 

20 



3Q6 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

saw. Several of these diaries art' in the Lenox Library in New York ; 
others are in the Soane Museum, London, and in the Museum of 
Berlin. 

Not long after his return to England. Reynolds settled in London. 
He lived in handsome rooms in St. Martin's Lane, and his sister Frances 
was his housekeeper. She was not a comfortable woman to live with, 
and delighted in confiding her troubles to any one who would listen to 
her. She thought herself an artist, and made copies of her brother's 
pictures; of which he said. "They make other people laugh, anil me 
cry." After she became acquainted with Dr. Johnson she painted 1 1 i> 
portrait for engraving; but the learned man called it "Johnson's 
grimly ghost," and showed less gratitude than the good lady thoughl 
she merited for her work. 

Very soon Reynolds's studio became the popular resort of artists. 
and through the influence of Lord Edgecumbe many nobles became 
his patrons. He painted a full-length portrait of Commodore Keppeh 
which at once established his reputation. He was represented standing 
on a rocky shore, with a stormy sea in the background. This picture 
was received with enthusiasm, and in his second London year Reynolds 
had a hundred and twenty sitters, among whom were many notable 
people. The artist removed to Great Newport Street, and charged 
twelve guineas for a bust, twenty-four guineas for a half-length and 
double that sum for a full-length portrait. 

The note-books which Reynolds kept are very curious ; in them he 
put down all his appointments with his sitters, his social engagements, 
and many minor details of his life. From these books it is very easy 
to make up an exact account of his occupations and pleasures. In 17">7 
he gave six hundred and sixty-five sittings; his haste was such that be 
often sent his portraits home before they were dry. In this and the 
following year he earned more money than in any other two years of 
his life. In 17-38 his sitters numbered a hundred and fifty, and included 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 307 

Prince Edward, the Dukes of Marlborough, Richmond, and Cumberland, 
besides many other celebrated persons. It is pleasant to know that most 
of his patrons became his friends, and in spite of his deafness, which 
forced him to use an ear-trumpet, he was sought as a guest by many 
noble families. Beautiful women loved to have their portraits painted 
by Reynolds ; in 1759 Lady Coventry and the Countess Waldegrave sat 
to him ; these ladies were so beautiful that when they walked in the 
Park they were attended by soldiers, in order to ward off those who 
wished to observe them too closely. 

Dr. Johnson and Reynolds met for the first time in 1753, and from 
that time they were faithful friends. Dr. Johnson delighted not only in 
Reynolds's success as a painter, but perceiving his other talents insisted 
on his writing for " The Idler," by which means the artist published 
a series of brilliant articles and made himself a name in literary circles. ' 
This kindness was more than repaid ; for after Dr. Johnson became too 
poor to keep house for himself, he was always welcome to the house 
and purse of Reynolds. 

In 1760 the master again raised his prices for his work, and at 
about the same time established himself in the house in Leicester 
Square, in which he passed the remainder of his life. This house was 
very fine ; and though it exhausted all his savings to fit it up, he spent 
still more in setting up a gorgeous carriage for his sister, and in other 
expenses which served to advertise his success to all who observed 
them. 

The various military and naval movements in which English 
officers were engaged, and such state occasions as the marriage and 
coronation of George III., afforded much occupation to the master; 
for all those who played any prominent part in public affairs desired 
to be immortalized by the brush of Reynolds. I could fill whole pages 
with lists of high-sounding names of his sitters, and of the friends 
whom he visited and received in his own house : it is marvellous how 



308 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

so industrious a man could have gone so much into society. Among 
his friends were many men of letters, and he joined several clubs. 
He was passionately fond of these assemblies, and at one time was a 
member of that which met at the Turk's Head on Monday; the 
Devonshire on Thursday; the Thursday-Night at the Star and Garter ; 
the Dilettanti Fortnightly on Sundays: and the Eumelian at the 
Blenheim Tavern. He also went frequently to the Ladies' Club at 
Almack's, attended the Blue Stockings after that was established, 
besides being often seen at the Vauxhall Masquerades, and at the 
new Pantheon, the splendid Hall of the Knights of the Bath. With 
all this, he was constant]} - at balls and dinners and parties in private 
houses, and often at the theatre, of which he was very fond, in spite 
of his deafness. 

Reynolds seemed to have reached the height of popularity when 
in 1768 he was elected President of the Royal Academy, and was 
knighted by the king. He was of great advantage to the Academy, 
and heartily devoted to its interests. He was active in establishing 
its schools and equipping them with models, libraries, and conveniences 
for study; he gave much attention to its exhibitions, and founded 
the famous Academy Dinners, on which occasions men of rank and 
genius were brought together in such a way as to render them 
the most remarkable gatherings in the United Kingdom. From time 
to time he also delivered his well-known ••Discourses on Art." 
which are remarkable as well for the good judgment in the selection 
of the subjects treated, as for the literary skill with which they 
were written. 

About 1770 Sir Joshua built a villa at Richmond Hill, next to 
the famous Star and Garter. In the same year he spent a month 
in Plympton, and at this time he brought to his home his niece, 
Theophila Palmer, who remained with him until her marriage, eleven 
years later. She was very beautiful, and is known to all the world as 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 309 

the "■Offy" of the famous " Strawberry Girl," and other pictures of 
her which Sir Joshua painted. 

With the exception of the absence of his youth, Sir Joshua spent 
little time out of England. In 1768 he visited Paris, and in 1780 
he passed two months in Holland and Germany. When absent 
from London he was usually at the house of some friend in the 
country, or at his old home, of which he was always fond. He 
was elected an alderman of Plyinpton, and later its mayor ; he assured 
the king that these honors gave him more pleasure than all the 
others of his life, with the one exception of his knighthood at the 
hands of his Majesty. 

Few men have been so much admired by such a diversity of people 
as was Sir Joshua Reynolds. The testimony of his friends presents 
him to us as a man of admirable character. Perhaps no one knew 
him more intimately than James Northcote, who was received into his 
family as a poor Devonshire lad ; he remained with Sir Joshua five 
years, and left him a prosperous painter. Northcote found him kindly, 
modest, and lovable in every way. He thus describes him personally : 

" In his stature Sir Joshua Beynolds was rather under the middle size, of a 
florid complexion, roundish blunt features, and a lively aspect ; not corpulent, 
though somewhat inclined to it, hut extremely active, with manners uncommonly 
polished and agreeable. In conversation his manner was perfectly natural, 
simple, and unassuming. He most heartily enjoyed his profession, in which he 
was both famous and illustrious; and I agree with Mr. Malone, who says he 
appeared to him to be the happiest man he had ever known." 

At one time when the artist was ill, Dr. Johnson wrote to him : 

" If the amusement of my company can exhilarate the languor of a slow recover}', 
I will not delay a clay to come to you ; for I know not how I can so effectually 
promote my own pleasure as by pleasing you, in whom, if I should lose you, I 
should lose the only man whom I call a friend." 

It often happened that Reynolds was present when his friends 
grew hot in dispute over their differences in philosophy, politics, or 



310 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

other matters. The master had his own views, and these were well 
known to his intimates; but he avoided all unpleasant argument. 
On one occasion, Garrick, Fox, and others, were the guests of Rey- 
nolds, when Dr. Johnson and the Dean of Derry had a warm dispute. 
Later, after a reconciliation had been made, the Dean addressed 
these lines to Sir Joshua, — 

" Dear Knight of Plympton, teach me how 
To suffer, with unclouded brow 

And smile serene as thine, 
The jest uncouth and truth severe ; 
Like thee to turn my deafest ear, 

And calmly drink my wine. 

" Thou say'st not only skill is gained. 
But genius too may be attained 

By studious invitation ; 
Thy temper mild, thy genius fine, 
I '11 study till I make them mine 

By constant meditation." 

Oliver Goldsmith was so much beloved by Reynolds that on the 
day of the poet's death the painter did not touch his pencil, — 
the most meaning tribute that he could pay to his friend's memory. 
Goldsmith's last writing was an epitaph on Sir Joshua, which, though 
unfinished, has been called the best possible summing-up of the 
artist's character. It is this, — 

"Here Reynolds is laid; and, to tell you my mind, 
He has not left a wiser or better behind. 
His pencil was striking, resistless, and grand ; 
His manners were gentle, complying, and bland; 
Still to improve us in every part. — 
His pencil our faces, his manners our heart. 
To coxcombs averse, yet most civilly steering, 
When they judged without skill, he was still hard of hearing ; 
When they talked of their Raphaels, Correggios, and stuff, 
He slutted his trumpet, and only took snuff. 
By flattery unspoiled " — 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



311 



Edmund Burke said, when asked if Sir Joshua had no failings, 
" I do not know a fault or weakness of his that he did not convert 
into something that bordered on a virtue, instead of pushing it to 
the confines of a vice." In 1797, when the great statesman wrote 
the notes to Malone's biography of Sir Joshua, the paper was often 




THE LADIES WALDEGKAVE. (AFTER THE PAINTING BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.) 

blotted by the tears which Burke shed as he wrote out his memories 
of his beloved friend, with whom " he lived for many years without 
a moment of coldness, of peevishness, of jealousy, or of jar, to the 
day of our final separation." These opinions, quoted from men of 
such diversity of character, prove that Sir Joshua Reynolds was a 



312 STORIES OF AET AND ARTISTS. 

iimn worthy of honor and remembrance, independent of his merit 

as an artist. 

In 1789 Sir Joshua lost the sight of his left eye; and though this 
changed his whole life, he retained his calm cheerfulness, and occu- 
pied his mind with the exciting topics of the time; for it happened 
that the storming of the Bastille occurred in the very week in which 
he gave up his pencil. He still used his brush a very little to lin- 
ish or retouch works which were incomplete, hut he sadly said: 
"There is now an end of the pursuit; the race is over, whether 
it is lost or won." 

In 1790 troubles arose in the Academy, and Sir Joshua felt him- 
self so badly used that he resigned the presidency and his membership 
of the Institution. The king requested him to return : but he re- 
fused, until the Academy publicly apologized to him. He then resumed 
his office, and in December delivered his final discourse, in which 
he defended his action and quietly alluded to the recent troubles. 
He ended by speaking of the great master of the world, and said : 
- 1 reflect, not without vanity, that these discourses bear testimony 
of my admiration of that truly divine man; and 1 should desire 
that the last words I should pronounce in this Academy, and from 
this place, might be the name of Michael Axcelo." 

It was a most interesting moment : and as the sound of his voice 
ceased, in the midst of an impressive silence Edmund Burke stepped 
from the brilliant audience, and grasping the master's hand, repeated 
Milton's lines : — 

"The angel ended; and in Adam's ear 
So charming left his voice, that he awhile 

Thought him still speaking, still stood lixed to hear." 

Thus impressively and fittingly was ended Sir Joshua's last official 
address to the Academy- 

The remainder of his life was a gradual decline; his siffhl grew 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 313 

weaker and his strength less until February 23, 1792, when he died 
easily, never having suffered much pain. The king directed that his 
body should lie in state in the Academy rooms in Somerset House. 
The funeral was grand and solemn ; the pall-bearers were dukes, 
marquises, earls, and lords ; ninety-one carriages followed the hearse, 
in which were the first nobles, scholars, and prelates of the realm, with 
all the members and students of the Academy. He was buried near 
Sir Christopher Wren in St. Paul's Cathedral, where Vandyck had 
already been laid, and where, in later years, a goodly number of 
painters have been buried around him. In 1813, a statue by Flaxman 
was erected to his memory near the choir of the cathedral, and a Latin 
inscription recounts the talents and virtues of the great man whom it 
commemorates. 

Having thus traced the story of Sir Joshua's life, it now remains to 
speak of him more especially as an artist. The amount of his work 
was very great, and it is interesting to notice that he often painted the 
portraits of three generations of the same family ; he several times made 
portraits of persons in their childhood, middle life, and old age, and also 
those of their children and grandchildren. It is not possible to say 
exactly how many portraits he painted ; some authors say that all his 
works numbered three thousand, and a catalogue made in 1874 claims 
that two thousand can now be located. He painted one hundred and 
thirty historical and poetic subjects ; and it is doubtful if either Rubens 
or Vandyck equalled him in productiveness. 

His greatest fame is as a portrait-painter, and as such he was a 
great genius. He had the power to reproduce the personal peculiarities 
of his subjects with great exactness ; he was also able to perceive their 
qualities of temper, mind, and character, and he made his portraits so 
vivid with these attributes that they were likenesses of the minds as 
well as of the persons of his subjects. In the portrait of Goldsmith, 



314 STORIES OF ART AM) ARTISTS. 

self-esteem is as prominent as the nose; passion and energy are in 
every line of Burke's face and figure; and whenever his subject pos- 
sessed any individual characteristics they were plainly shown in Rey- 
nolds's portraits. So many of these pictures are famous that we 
cannot speak of them in detail. Perhaps no one portrait is better 
known than that of the famous actress, Mrs. Sarah Siddons, as the 
Tragic Muse. This is a noble example of an idealized portrait, and it 
is said that the "Isaiah" of Michael Angelo suggested the manner in 
which it is painted. Sir Thomas Lawrence declared it to he the fines! 
female portrait in the world, and it is certain that this one picture 
would have made any painter famous. Sir Joshua inscribed his 
name on the border of the robe, and courteously explained to the lady : 
''I could not lose the honor this opportunity afforded me of going down 
to posterity on the hem of your garment." The original of this work 
is said to he that in the Gallery of the Duke of Westminster: a second 
is in the Dulwich Gallery. In speaking of Sir Joshua as a portrait- 
painter, Mr. Ruskin says: "Considered as a painter of individuality 
in the human form and mind, I think him the prince of portrait- 
painters. Titian paints nobler pictures, and Vandyck had nobler 
subjects; but neither of them entered so subtly as Sir Joshua did into 
the minor varieties of heart and temper." 

His portraits of simply beautiful women can scarcely he equalled in 
the world. He perfectly reproduced the delicate grace and beauty of 
some of his sitters, and the brilliant, dazzling charms of others. Il< 
loved to paint richly hued velvets in contact with rare laces, ermine, 
feathers, and jewels. It is a regret that so many of his works are 
faded; hut after all we must agree with Sir George Beaumont when he 
said : " Even a faded picture from him will he the finest thing you 
can have." 

The most attractive of bis works are his pictures of children. It 
is true that they too are portraits, hut they are often represented in 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 315 

some fancy part, such as the " Strawberry Girl," a portrait of his niece 
Offy ; " Muscipula," who holds a mouse-trap ; the " Little Marchioness ; " 
the " Girl with a Mob-cap," and many others. He loved to paint 
pictures of boys in all sorts of characters, — street-pedlers, gypsies, 
cherubs, and so on. He often picked up boy-models in the street and 
painted from them in his spare hours, between his appointments with 
sitters. Sometimes he scarcely hustled a beggar-boy out of his chair in 
time for some grand lady to seat herself in it. It is said that one day 
one of these children fell asleep in so graceful an attitude that the mas- 
ter seized a fresh canvas and made a sketch of him ; this was scarcely 
done when the child threw himself into a different pose without 
awakening. Sir Joshua added a second sketch to the first, and from 
these made his beautiful picture of " The Babes in the Wood." More 
than two hundred of his pictures of children have been engraved, and 
these plates form one of the loveliest collections that can be made from 
the works of any one artist. 

His pictures of historical or poetic subjects were far less excel- 
lent than his portraits. Perhaps his best works of this kind are 
"Macbeth and the Witches," "Cardinal Beaufort," "The Death of 
Dido," and " Hercules strangling the Serpents." The last was painted 
for the Empress of Kussia, who sent him fifteen hundred guineas 
for it with a gold snuff-box, bearing her miniature and her cipher 
in diamonds. 

This master executed a few landscapes. In 1746 he painted a 
view of Plymouth, which was a work of love rather than art; his 
picture of " Conway Castle " is by no means an inferior work, and 
other pictures of scenery by him recall the manner of Salvator Rosa. 
The landscape backgrounds in his portraits are always true to Nature, 
and the trees especially fine. 

When Sir Joshua was at the height of his power, he was accus- 
tomed to receive six sitters a day, and often completed a portrait 



316 STOKIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

iu four hours. He kept portfolios of prints from his portraits in 
a great variety of positions, and from these his patrons chose tin- 
style of picture which they wished to have. He placed his sitters 
in chairs upon castors, on a platform raised eighteen inches above 
the floor ; he worked standing, and used hrushes with handles eighteen 
inches long. His pictures are rarely sold, and when they are tiny 
bring fabulous prices. 

In 1873 his -'Portrait of Mrs. Morris" was sold for 5,450 guineas; 
in 1874 -Mrs. Hartley and Child" brought 2,395 guineas; and a 
portrait of Burke has been sold for 1.000 guineas. Good prints from 
his works are now becoming rare and valuable. 

It is pleasant to know that some artists who were once unjust 
to Sir Joshua came to be his admirers; his rival Romney was noble 
in his defence, and when his friends spoke ill of Reynolds, Romney 
said: ''No, no! he is the greatest painter that ever lived; for I see 
in his pictures an exquisite charm which I see in Nature, hut in no 
other pictures." Sir Joshua suffered keenly from his treatment in 
the Academy ; he felt that he was " wounded in the house of his 
friends." But the time came when his memory was honored there as 
it should be. 

As we close this studv of Sir Joshua, it is delightful to remember 
that so great a man was so good a man, and to believe that Burke 
did not flatter him when in his eulogy he said : — 

"Iu full affluence of foreign and domestic fame, admired by the expert in art 
and by the learned in science, courted by the great, caressed by sovereign powers, 
and celebrated by distinguished poets, his native humility, modesty, and candor 
never forsook him, even on surprise or provocation; nor was the least degree of 
arrogance or assumption visible to the most scrutinizing eye iu any part of his 
conduct or discourse." 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 317 



KI CHARD WILSON 



was another original member of the Academy ; and though not the 
first English artist who had painted landscapes, he was the first 
whose pictures merited the honorable recognition which they now 
have. Wilson's story is a sad one ; he was not appreciated while 
he lived, and his whole life was saddened by seeing the works of 
foreign artists which were inferior to his own sold for good prices, 
while he was forced to sell his to pawnbrokers, who, it is said, could 
not dispose of them at any price. 

Wilson was the son of a clergyman, and was born at Pinegas, 
in Montgomeryshire, in 1713. He first painted portraits, and earned 
money with which, in 1749, he went to Italy, where he remained 
six years. His best works were Italian views, and some of them 
were several times repeated ; that of the " Ruins of the Villa of 
Mgecenas, at Tivoli," now in the National Gallery, was painted by 
him five times. His pictures are poetic in feeling and fine in color, 
and he is now considered as the best landscape-painter of his day, 
with the single exception of Gainsborough. 

Wilson died in 1782, and it is pleasant to know that after more 
than sixty years of poverty, the last two of his life were years 
of peaceful comfort. A brother who died left him a legacy, and 
he retired to Carnarvon, where, in a pleasant home in the midst of 
scenery which was a perpetual delight to him, he passed his days 
in a content which was as welcome as it was novel. 

Before the time of this master, English landscape-painters had 
followed the example of the Dutch masters ; through his influence 
they looked to Italy for their models, and the effect of this change 
was soon seen in the greater merit of their works. 



318 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



THOMAS GAINSBOKOUGH, 

though a great artist, had an uneventful life. He was the son of 
a clothier, and was horn in Sudbury, in Suffolk, in 172V. His boyish 
habit of wandering about the woods and streams of Suffolk, making 
sketches, and finding his greatest pleasure in this, induced his father 
to send him to London to study art, when about fifteen years old. 
He studied first under a French engraver, Gravelot, who was of 
much advantage to him ; next he was a pupil of Francis Hay man, 
at the Academy in St. Martin's Lane; but his real teacher was 
Nature. 

After a time he settled in Hat ton Square, and painted both portraits 
and landscapes. After four years of patient work, his pat runs were so 
few that he left London and returned to Sudbury. 

It had once happened that when he was sketching a wood-scene, 
Margaret Burr had crossed his line of sight; he had added her figure 
to his picture, and from this circumstance they had come to be friends. 
Soon after Gainsborough returned to his home. Margaret became his 
wife. He was a careless, unthrifty man, while she was quite of 
another sort, and was thus a true helpmate to him; to her carefulness 
we owe the preservation of many of his pictures. 

After his marriage, Gainsborough settled in Ipswich ; in 1700 he 
removed to Bath, and here both in portraits and landscapes he made 
such a reputation that when, fourteen years later, lie removed to 
London, he was considered the rival of Reynolds in portraits, and of 
Wilson as a painter of scenery. Gainsborough was one of the original 
Academicians, and on one occasion when present at a gathering of 
artists. Sir Joshua Reynolds proposed the health of Gainsborough as a 
toast, and called him "the greatest landscape-painter of the day." 
Wilson, who was present, was touched by this, and exclaimed : " Yes. 




THE BLUE BOY. (BY THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH. GALLERY OF HIS GRACE, THE DUKE OF 
WESTMINSTER.) FAC-SIMILE OF AN ETCHING BY RAJON, PUBLISHED BY "l'arT." 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 321 

and the greatest portrait-painter, too." Sir Joshua realized that he 
had been ungracious, and apologized to Wilson. 

Gainsborough exhibited many works at the Royal Academy, but 
on one occasion he took offence because a portrait of his was not 
hung to his liking, and refused from that time, 1783, to contribute 
again to the Academy exhibitions. 

Gainsborough was very impulsive, and was easily made angry. 
His disputes with Reynolds were frequent, though never very seri- 
ous or such as to separate them for any length of time ; it is said 
that the famous "Blue Boy" was painted for the purpose of practi- 
cally contradicting Sir Joshua, who had said that blue should not 
be used in masses. There was also a soft and lovable side to this 
wayward man. His love for music was a passion, and he once gave 
his "Boy at the Stile" to Colonel Hamilton as a reward for his playing 
the flute . 

We have said that older English painters had followed the Dutch 
in landscapes, and that Wilson introduced the Italian manner ; but 
Gainsborough was English in the true sense : he copied the scenes of 
his own land, and his pictures of children have a wonderful charm 
because they are ruddy, brown, peasant children who live in England. 
His landscapes are quite varied in their style ; one, called " A Wood 
Scene, with the Village of Cornard in the Distance," in the National 
Gallery, is more delicate and tender than are the works of the great 
Dutch master, Hobbema, but it resembles the pictures of that artist. 
" The Market-Cart," in the same Gallery, is a very famous picture, and 
is dark and brown in color, with a fine chiaroscuro, although the details 
are not carefully finished. Again, in the " Watering Place," same 
collection, is another manner ; the rich color recalls the Venetian 
masters, and the foliage is in broad, dark masses. In each and all of 
these pictures Gainsborough showed himself to be a great landscape- 
painter. 21 



322 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

His portraits may be thought to have too much of a bluish gray in 
the flesh tints, but they are always graceful and pleasing. At Windsor 
there are seventeen life-size heads of the children of George III., which 
are excellent. The National Gallery has a fine collection of his por- 
traits, among which those of " Mrs. Siddons," " The Parish Clerk," and 
the group of the " Baillie Family," are the best. At a 'sale in Paris in 
1S74, this master's portrait of himself sold for nearly four thousand 
dollars; and in 1876 his famous "Duchess of Devonshire" broughl 
fifty thousand dollars, — the highest price ever paid for any picture 
to Christie, the celebrated London dealer. 

The "Shepherd Boy in a Shower," "The Cottage Door," " The 
Cottage Girl with Dog and Pitcher," and "The Shepherd Boys with 
Fighting Dogs," are among his best and most popular pictures, and 
are all familiar from the engravings which have been made from 
them. 

GEOEGE EOMNEY 

was born at Beckside, in Cumberland, in 1734. His life was most 
discreditable. When he was twenty-two years old. he married Mary 
Abbot, who had nursed him when very ill ; after the birth of their 
second child, he left her in Kendal, and during thirty-nine years 
he seemed almost to forget the existence of his family, and commu- 
nicated with them at rare intervals, until in 1799, broken in health 
and spirits, he longed for the same tender care that he had known 
when a youth of twenty. During the years of his absence he had 
lived in such a manner as to forfeit all claim to the respect or 
affection of his wife and children ; but now. when he came to them 
in his weakness, they nursed him tenderly through three weary years. 
and when he died they buried him in his native place. 

It is more pleasant to speak of his pictures, for his portraits were 
so fine that he was a worthy rival of Sir Joshua Reynolds. His 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 



323 



pictures are mostly in private galleries, but that of the beautiful 
Lady Hamilton, in the National Gallery, is a famous work. He was 
ambitious to paint historical subjects, and some of his imaginary pict- 
ures are much admired. He was fitful in his art, and began so 




MRS. CARWARDINE. (a PORTRAIT BY G. ROMNEY.) 



many works which he left unfinished that they were finally removed 
from his studio by cart-loads. There was also an incompleteness 
in the pictures which he called finished ; in short, the want of stead- 
fastness which made him an unfaithful husband and father went far 



324 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

to lessen his artistic merit. At the same time, it is true thai he 
was a great artist, and very famous in his best days; his works excel 
in vigorous drawing and brilliant, transparent color. His pictures arc 
rarely sold, and are as valuable as those of bis great contemporaries, 
Reynolds and Gainsborough, of corresponding size. 

THOMAS LAWRENCE 

is the only other portrait-painter of whom I shall here speak. He 
was born at Bristol in 17'iO, and much of his work belongs to our 
own century. His father bad been trained to the law. but before 
the birth of the painter had become an inn-keeper. When the boy 
was quite young he w r as taken to the " Black Bear " at Devizes, one 
of the posting-houses on the road to Bath. Thomas had a rare 
gift for reciting poetry ; even at five years of age he rendered Milton 
creditably, and when a mere child he entertained his father's cus- 
tomers by his recitations, and took their portraits with equal readi- 
ness. His school life was short ; but his unusual gifts secured him 
such friends as were much to his advantage, and he -picked up" 
a fairly good education by listening to their conversation. 

When he was ten years old his family removed to Oxford, where 
he rapidly improved in his drawing. When he first saw a picture 
by Rubens he wept bitterly and sobbed out, — "Oh! 1 shall never 
be able to paint like that." He was very industrious, and when bis 
father again moved, this time to Bath, Tommy made many crayon 
heads at a guinea and a guinea and a half each. — much to the benefit 
of bis needy family. In 1785 be received a silver pallet from the 
Society of Arts as a reward for a copy of the "Transfiguration" ol 
Raphael, which he had executed when but thirteen years did. 

In 1787 the young painter entered the Royal Academy. London. 
and from this time his course was one <>t repeated successes. Sir 




COUNTESS GREY AND CHILDREN. (FROM A PORTRAIT BY SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 327 

Joshua Reynolds was his friend and adviser ; he early attracted the 
notice of the king and queen, whose portraits he painted when but 
twenty-two years old. He became an Academician in 1794 ; after Sir 
Joshua's death he was appointed Painter to the King ; was knighted in 
1815; and live years later succeeded to the chief office of the Academy. 
He was also a member of many foreign institutes and a chevalier of 
the Legion of Honor. It is rare to find the path to honor and fame so 
easy as it was to Sir Thomas Lawrence ; it presented no weary climbing 
to tax his patience and endurance ; no pebbles ever seemed to lie in 
his way, and he could have walked there barefooted without injury. 

His London life was brilliant, his studio was crowded with sitters, 
and money flowed into his purse in a generous stream ; for his prices 
were larger than any other English painter had heretofore asked. But 
all this did him little good ; for by some means he was continually in 
debt, and always poor. 

In 1814 he visited Paris ; but was soon recalled that he might paint 
the portraits of the Allied Sovereigns, their statesmen and generals. 
These works were the first of the series of portraits of great men that 
are in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle. In 1818 he attended 
the Congress at Aix-la-Chapelle for the purpose of adding portraits 
of notable persons to the Gallery of the Prince Regent. At length he 
was called to Rome to paint a likeness of the Pope and Cardinal Gon- 
salvi ; he seems to have been inspired with new strength by his near- 
ness to the works of the great masters in the Eternal City, for these 
two portraits are far beyond his previous work, and after his return to 
England, from 1820 to 1830, his pictures had a vigor and worth that are 
wanting at every other period of his life. He also painted a portrait of 
Canova while in Rome, which he presented to the Pope. 

When Sir Thomas reached London he found himself the president 
elect of the Academy ; it was a great honor, and he accepted it with 
modesty, while he was much gratified by this recognition of his merit. 



328 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

George IV., following the example of the graciousness of Charles I. 
towards Vandyck, hung upon the painter's neck a gold chain bearing a 
medal on which the likeness (if His Majesty was engraved. In the 
catalogue of the Academy, ISL'0. Lawrence is called "Principal Painter 
in Ordinary to His Majesty, member of the Roman Academy of Saint 
Luke's, of the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, and of the Fine 
Arts in New York." To the last he had been elected in 1818, and had 
sent to the Academy a full-length portrait of Benjamin West. 

From this time to that of his death there was little to relate con- 
cerning his life except that he was always busy, and each year sent 
eight fine works to the Academy exhibition. His friends and patrons 
showed him much consideration, and various honors were added to his 
list, already long. He was always worried about money matters, and 
he grieved much over the illness of his favorite sister; hut there was 
no striking event to change the even current of his life. 

At the dinner of the Artists' Fund in 1 S29 he said: "I am now 
advanced in life, and the time of decay is coming; hut come when it 
will. I hope to have the good sense not to prolong the contest for fame 
with younger, and perhaps abler, men. No self-love shall prevent me 
from retiring, and that cheerfully, to privacy: and I consider I shall do 
but an act of justice to others, as well as mercy to myself." These 
were his last words in public ; for on dan. 7, 1830, he expired sud- 
denly from ossification of the heart, exclaiming, "This is dying," 
almost the same words used by George IV. a few months later. 

Sir Thomas Lawrence was a man of tine personal qualities. His 
generosity may be called his greatest fault : for his impulses led him to 
give more than he had, — a quality which causes us to admire a 
man. while at the same moment it makes him guilty of graver faults. 
His kindness is shown in this anecdote. In ISIS he went to Ports- 
mouth to attend the funeral of his brother. Major Lawrence, and 
while there he became interested in a poor family whose hut had been 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 329 

"washed out to sea. The painter gave them a sum sufficient to build a 
new house, and refused to tell them his name. A few years later he 
visited the same people again, and found them in much comfort ; they 
recognized him as their benefactor, and received him with true arratitude. 

He was always generous to unfortunate artists, and in this way 
spent large sums. He was also true to his own ideas of right and 
wrong, even at the cost of his own advantage. One illustration of 
this is the fact that when the ill-used Queen Caroline died, Law- 
rence ordered the schools and library of the Academy to be closed 
as long as her remains were in the country. This was brave and 
noble, for it was generally believed that any person who should sym- 
pathize with or show respect for her would lose the favor of the 
king ; and many courtiers and office-holders acted upon this theoiy. 

As an artist, Lawrence cannot be given a very high rank, in 
spite of the immense successes of his life. As in all cases, there 
are opposite opinions concerning him. He has hearty admirers, but 
he is also accused of mannerisms and weakness. His early works 
are the most satisfactory, because most natural ; they are good in 
design and rich in color. Some sketches of heads with the canvas 
blank about them are fine, and seem to have been done almost 
instantly and never retouched. When his portraits are taken as a 
whole, it must be admitted that he flattered his sitters, and had 
much that was artificial in his style. He affected gorgeous accessories 
and loved to introduce crimson velvet and gold damask, furs and 
marbles, and all sorts of rich details, — in fact, the style which has 
been called " the curtain and column " portrait painting, was his in 
a great measure. 

There is no doubt that his best and most beautiful works were 
his pictures of mothers and children. One of these, which is a por- 
trait of the Countess Gower and her little daughter Elizabeth, is 
well known all over Europe and America, and has even been seen 



330 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

in China, where a painting had been made from a print uf it, 
and colored according to the fancy of the copyist. Another well- 
known work of his is a circular picture of two lovely, romping 
children; prints from it are scattered in many lands. The Waterloo 
Chamber is a splendid monument to his memory; several of his 
works are in the National Gallery, and hundreds of them are in the 
houses of England, where they are treasured for the sake of the 
painter, and of those whose forms and faces he made to be enduring 
after youth and beauty and even life had departed. 

JOSEPH MALLARD WILLIAM TURNER 

was an artist of great genius, and has exercised a powerful influence 
on the art of the nineteenth century. He was the son of a barber, 
and was born in Covent Garden, April 23, 177"). When the boy 
was five years old, he was taken by his father to the house of a 
customer of the barber, and while the shaving and combing went 
on. the child studied the figure of a rampant lion engraved upon 
a piece of silver. After his return home, he drew a copy of the 
lion that decided his profession, for then and then- the father deter- 
mined that his son should be an artist. As a child and youth he 
was always sketching, and. while he was fond of Nature in all her 
features, be yet, bad a preference for water views, with boats and clifEa 
and shining waves. After some schooling and much wandering about 

O CD & 

Brentford, Margate, and along the Thames, he began to study in 
the office of an architect, who decided that be was not in the right 
place, and advised the father to make a painter of his son. In 1789, 
when fourteen years old. Turner entered the classes of the Royal Acad- 
emy, where he worked hard in drawing from Greek models. He 
had the good fortune to lie employed by Dr. Munro to do some copy- 
ing and other work, and by this means be revelled in familiarity 



STOEIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 331 

with the fine pictures and valuable drawings with which the house 
of his patron was filled. Toward the end of Sir Joshua Reynolds's 
life, Turner was a frequent visitor at his studio, and was always sketch- 
ing some quaint bit of architecture, or some view which charmed 
his eye. He earned a little money by teaching drawing, and at 
length, in 1790, sent his first contribution to the Academy exhi- 
bition : it was a view of Lambeth Palace, in water-colors. During 
the next ten years, he exhibited more than sixty works, embracing 
a great variety of subjects. These pictures included views from more 
than twenty-six counties of England and Wales, for he was con- 
stantly in the habit of making sketching tours and bringing home 
numberless designs for painting. 

In 1802 he was made a full member of the Academy, and also 
visited the Continent for the first time, going to France and 
Switzerland only. He visited Italy in 1819, in 1829, and again in 
1840. He held the appointment of a professor in the Academy 
from 1807, and though his lectures were largely attended, his style 
was so peculiar and his voice so deep and mumbling that there 
was little real instruction to be gained from them. During a pro- 
fessorship of thirty years he lectured but two or three seasons ; 
and even then he frequently disappointed those who gathered to 
hear him by not appearing at all, or by coming to say : " Gentle- 
men, I 've been and left my lecture in a hackney coach ; " or something 
of the same significance. 

The pictures of Turner are often compared with those of Claude 
Lorraine, and at times he painted in rivalry with Cuyp, Poussin, and 
Claude, aiming to adopt the manner of these masters. An example 
in the style of Claude is his picture of " iEneas with the Sibyl at 
Lake A vermis." In 1806 Turner followed the example of the great 
Lorraine in another direction. Claude had made a Liber Veritatis, 
or " Book of Truth," which contained sketches of his finished pic- 



332 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

tures, in order that the works of other painters should not be sold 
as his. Turner determined to make a Liber Studiorum, or "Book 
of Studies." It was issued in a series of twenty numbers, containing 
five plates each, and the subscription price was t'17 LOs. There 
were endless troubles with the engravers, and it was not paying well. 
and was abandoned after seventy plates had been issued. It seemed 
to be so worthless that Charles Turner, one of the engravers, used the 
proofs and trials of effect for kindling-paper. After the artist be- 
came famous this Liber Studiorum was very valuable. Before Turner 
died, a copy was worth thirty guineas, and more recently a single 
copy has brought £3,000. Colnaghi, the London print-dealer, paid 
Charles Turner £1,0(10 for the proofs which he had not destroyed; 
and when the old engraver remembered how he had lighted his fires, 
he exclaimed: "Good God! I have been burning bank-notes all 
my life." In 1871 an exhibition of choice impressions of the Liber 
was held in London, and in 1878 Professor Norton of Harvard Uni- 
versity had a set of thirty-three of the best plates from it reproduced 
by the heliotype process. 

Turner grew very rich ; hut he lived in a mean, dirty style. As long 
as his father lived he waited upon his great son as a servant might 
have done, and after the father's death, an untidy, wizened old woman. 
a Mrs. Danby, was the only person to care for the house or the inter- 
est of the painter. His dress was that of a very common person, 
and it is impossible to understand how a man who so admired the 
beautiful in Nature, could live in such a miserly manner as Turner 
did. His house in Queen Anne Street was so dirty and neglected 
without, that one would have guessed it to he a house given up to 
the rats and spiders: and within it was quite as bad. The dreary 
rooms were filled with uncared-for objects, and littered by pictures in 
all stages of progress. The house was so damp that the engravings 
went to decay, and thirty thousand fine proofs rotted here, having 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 333 

been used as beds by seven Manx cats, who followed " their own 
sweet wills " in this ghastly abode. Although such living, as a rule, 
is the result of a miserly spirit, this did not seem to have been its 
motive in Turner's case, for there were many occasions when he 
spent money freely and was generous to others. The habits of his 
father may be an explanation in part; but a more probable one is 
the fact that the young girl who promised to marry him in his 
youth married another, in what seemed to him a heartless and cruel 
way. But it is now known that, during a long absence, the girl's 
mother had intercepted and destroyed both his letters and hers. 
The girl thought her lover had slighted and neglected her ; the 
artist believed her to be selfish and false, and from this time he 
ignored all the pleasures of family life and became the strange un- 
kempt guy that he was. He had sincere friends, however, who 
found much to admire in him ; and in the few houses that he fre- 
quented he was a favorite with the young people, who, while they 
described his unattractive appearance, added that he was social, agree- 
able, and always entertaining. We cannot say what he might have 
been, could he have had the care and love of a home circle, and it 
is kind to remember his genius and virtues, and forget his failings. 

Sometime before his death, Turner seemed to be hiding himself; 
his friends could not discover his retreat, until at last his old house- 
keeper traced him to a clingy Chelsea cottage. When his friends 
went to him he was dying, and the end soon came. His funeral 
from Queen Anne Street was an imposing one. The body was taken 
to St. Paul's Cathedral; and there, surrounded by a large company 
of artists and followed by the faithful old woman, it was laid to 
rest between the tombs of Sir Joshua Reynolds and James Barry. 
His estate was valued at about seven hundred thousand dollars, and 
he desired that most of it should be used to establish a home for 
poor artists, to be called " Turner's Gift." But the will was not clearly 



334 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

written, his relatives contested it. and in the end bis pictures and 
drawings were given to the National Academy; one thousand pounds 

was devoted to a monument to his memory ; twenty thousand pounds 
established the Turner Fund in the Academy and yields annuities to 
six poor artists; and the remainder was divided among his kinsfolk. 

Perhaps no painter has lived about whose works there have been 
such extreme and opposite opinions. Some of his admirers claim 
for him the highest place in art. His opposers can see nothing goad 
in his works, and say that they may as well he hung one side up 
as another, since they are only a mixture of splashes of color and 
lights and shades. Neither extreme is correct. In some respects, 
Turner is at the head of English landscape-painters, and no other artist 
has had the power to paint so many different kinds of subjects or 
to employ such varied styles in his work. His water-colors are 
worthy of the highest praise ; indeed, he created a school of water- 
color painting. His Liber Studiorum cannot be too much admired, 
and some of his early pictures, in which he followed the Dutch School. 
are excellent ; among these are " The Shipwreck " and " The Sun ris- 
ing in a Mist.'' At the same time it is proper to say that the works 
executed in his latest period are not even commended by Ruskin, — 
his most enthusiastic admirer, — and are not to be classed with those 
of his earlier days and best manner. 

This master was so fruitful, and the number of his pictures in 
oil and water colors, of his drawings, and of the splendid illustrations 
for books which he made, is so enormous that we have no space in 
which to speak as one should of the different periods of his art. There 
is a large and fine collection of bis paintings in the South Kensington 
Museum; "The Old Temeraire." the picture which he would never 
sell, is there. " The Slave Ship," one of his finest pictures, is owned 
in Boston, and other celebrated works of his are in New York ; 
but most of his pictures outside the South Kensington Museum are 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 335 

in private galleries where no catalogues have ever been made, so 
that no estimate of the whole number can be given. 

It is not best to think of Turner the man, for in that view we 
must ever be perplexed by the contradictory virtues and vices which 
ruled him from time to time ; but to Turner the artist we may 
pay the highest honors and place his name beside those of Van de 
Vekle, Cuyp, Poussin, and Claude Lorraine. 

I shall tell you of but one more English painter, — one who is 
very interesting in his life and works, and of whom all young peo- 
ple must be fond, especially those of his own sex; it is the animal 
painter, 

EDWIN LANDSEER. 

He was the youngest of the three sons of John Landseer, the 
eminent engraver, and was born at No. 83 Queen Anne Street, in 
March, 1802. The eldest son, Thomas, followed the profession of 
his father, and in later years, by his faithful engraving after the 
works of Edwin, did much to confirm the great fame of his young- 
est brother. Charles, the second son of John Landseer, was a painter of 
historical subjects, and held the office of keeper of the Royal Academy 
for twenty years. 

Edwin Landseer had the good fortune to be aided and encouraged 
in his artistic studies and tastes even from his bab}"hood ; for there 
are now in the South Kensington Museum sketches of animals made in 
his fifth year, and good etchings which he did when eight years old. 

John Landseer taught his son to look to Nature above all else 
as his model, and Haydon, the painter who instructed his brothers, 
advised Edwin to dissect animals as other artists dissected their sub- 
jects. These two pieces of advice may be said to have been the 
only important teaching which Edwin Landseer received ; he followed 



336 



STORIES OF AET AND ARTISTS. 



them both faithfully, and when thirteen years old made his first exhi- 
bition at the Royal Academy. During fifty-eight years, there were 
but six in which he did not send his pictures there. When four- 
teen, he entered the Academy schools, and divided his time between 
sketching from the wild beasts at Exeter Change, and drawing in the 
classes. He was a handsome, manly boy, and the keeper, Fuseli, 
was very fond of him, calling him, as a mark of affection, •• My 
little dog boy." 




ONE OF THE LAXDSEER I.IONS AT THE BASK OF THE KELSON MONUMENT, TRAFALGAR 
SQUARE, LONDON. (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.) 

He was very industrious, and painted many pictures ; the besl one 
of what are known as his early works is the " Cat's-Paw," and rep- 
resents a monkey using the paw of a cat to push hot chestnuts 
from the top of a heated stove: the struggles of the cat are unavail- 
ing and her kittens mew to no purpose. This picture was oner sold 
for one hundred pounds: it is now in the collection of the Karl of 
Essex at Cashiobury, and is worth more than three thousand pounds. 
It was painted in 1S22. 

Up to this time the master seems to have thought only of making 
exact likenesses of animals, just as other painters had done before 
him; but he now began to put something more into his works, and 




" THE CONNOISSEURS." (AFTER A PAINTING BY SIR EDWIN LANDSEER.) 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 339 

to show the peculiar power which made him so remarkable, — a power 
which he was the first to manifest in pictures. I mean that he 
began to paint animals in their relation to man, and to show how 
they are his imitators, his servants, friends, and companions. Snyders 
had painted wonderful pictures of wild beasts, and Leonardo da Vinci 
and Vandyck had reproduced the noble beauty of horses and dogs ; 
but Edwin Landseer was the first to paint animals in their sphere 
in home-life, and it was this that made him so much admired and 
beloved by the people everywhere. 

Sir Walter Scott was in London when the " Cat's-Paw " was ex- 
hibited, and was so pleased by the picture that he sought out the 
young painter and invited him to go home with him. Sir Walter's 
well-known love of dogs was a foundation for the intimate affection 
which grew up between himself and Landseer. In 1824 the painter 
first saw Scotland, and during fifty years he studied its people, its 
scenery, and its customs ; he loved them all, and could ever draw 
new subjects and new enthusiasm from the breezy North. Sir Walter 
wrote in his journal ; " Landseer's dogs are the most magnificent things 
I ever saw ; leaping and bounding and grinning all over the canvas." 
The friendship of Sir Walter had a great effect upon the young 
painter ; it developed the imagination and romance in his nature, 
and he was affected by the human life of Scotland, so that he painted 
the shepherd, the gillie, and the poacher, and made his pictures 
speak the tenderness and truth, as well as the fearlessness and the 
hardihood, of the Gaelic race. The free, vigorous Northern life 
brought to the surface that which the habits of a London gentle- 
man in brilliant society never could have developed ; one critic has 
said : " It taught him his true power ; it freed his imagination ; 
it braced up all his loose ability ; it elevated and refined his mind ; 
it developed his latent poetry ; it completed his education." 

Landseer remained in the house of his father until he was a 



340 STOKIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

person of such importance that his friends felt that his dignity de- 
manded a separate establishment, and urged this upon him. lie could 
not lightly sever his home ties, and it was only after much hesitation 
that he removed to No. 1 St. John's Wood Road, where he passed 
the remainder of his life. He named his house " Maida Vale." in 
remembrance of the favorite doa; of Sir Walter Scott ; it was a small 
house with a garden and a barn, which he converted into a studio. 
From time to time he enlarged and improved the house, and it became 
the resort of a distinguished circle of people, who learned to love it 
for its generous hospitality and its atmosphere of joyous content. 

The best years of Landseer were from 1824 to 1840; in this last 
year he had the first attack of the disease from which he was never 
again entirely free. He suffered from such attacks of depression as 
to shadow all his life with gloom, and at times to threaten the loss 
of his reason. 

It is said that Landseer was the first person w r ho opened a com- 
munication between Queen Victoria and the literary and artistic 
society of England. Be that as it may, he was certainly the first 
artist to be received as a friend by the queen, who soon placed 
him on a perfectly unceremonious and easy footing in her household. 
She was often seen in St. John's Wood; and when it is remembered 
that on her coronation day she hastened to put off her robes that 
she might ''go and wash Dash." her favorite spaniel, it is easy to 
understand that Landseer's w r orks must have attracted her to him. 
When once she knew him, his character and his agreeable qualities 
soon made her his sincere friend. He was a frequent visitor at the 
royal palaces, and received many rich gifts from both Queen Victoria 
and Prince Albert. Between 1835 and 1866 he painted almost num- 
berless pictures of the queen, of various members of her family, and 
of the pets of the royal household. In 1850 he was knighted, and 
was at the veiy height of his popularity and success. 



STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 341 

It was most natural that the example of the queen should be 
followed by the nobility, and many families of high rank chose Land- 
seer for their portrait-painter. He was also received by them as a 
familiar friend, and, with the single exception of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
he visited and received in his own house more distinguished persons 
than any other British artist has done. He was the intimate friend 
of Dickens, Chantrey, Sydney Smith, and other famous men. An anec- 
dote of Sydney Smith relates that when some one asked him to sit 
to Landseer for his portrait, he replied : ■' Is thy servant a dog, that 
he should do this great thing ? " Landseer was a famous mimic, and 
frequently entertained his friends by this power ; on one occasion he 
terrified Chantrey' s servant by giving him orders, in precisely his 
master's voice and manner, from one end of the room, when the ser- 
vant could see Chantrey in a very different place, with his mouth 
closed, not uttering a word. 

Landseer had an extreme fondness for studying and making pic- 
tures of lions ; and from the time when as a boy he dissected one, 
he tried to obtain the body of every lion that died in London. 
Dickens was in the habit of relating that on one occasion when he 
and others were dining with the artist, a servant entered and 
asked : " Did you order a lion, sir ? " as if it were the most natural 
thing in the world. The guests feared that a living lion was about to 
enter; but it turned out to be only the body of the dead "Nero " of the 
Zoological Gardens, which had been sent as a gift to Sir Edwin. 

His skill in drawing was marvellous, and was once shown in a 
rare way at a large evening party. Facility in drawing had been 
the theme of conversation, when a lady declared that no one had 
yet drawn two objects at the same moment. Landseer would not 
admit that this could not be done, and immediately took two pencils 
and drew a horse's head with one hand, and at precisely the same 
time a stag's head with antlers with the other. He painted with 



342 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

great rapidity ; he once sent to the exhibition a picture of some 
rabbits painted in three quarters of an hour. Mr. 'Wells related 
that at one time, when Landseer was visiting him, he left the house 
for church just as his butler placed a fresh canvas on the easel 
before the painter ; on his return, three hours later, Landseer had 
completed a life-size picture of a fallow-deer, and so well was it 
clone that neither he nor the artist could see that it required 
retouching. 

There are several well-known portraits of Landseer ; but that 
called the " Connoisseurs, " painted in 1865 for the Prince of Wales, is 
of the greatest interest. Here the artist has painted a half-length pbr- 
trait of himself engaged in drawing, while two dogs look over his 
shoulders with a critical expression. One of his biographers says of 
this work : " The man behind his work was seen through it, — 
sensitive, variously gifted, manly, genial, tender-hearted, simple, and 
unaffected, a lover of animals and children and humanity ; and if 
any one wishes to see at a glance nearly all that we have written, 
let him look at his own portrait, painted by himself with a caninr 
connoisseur on either side." 

In 1840 Landseer made an extended tour in Europe, and this 
was the only occasion when he was long absent from Great Britain. 
In 1855 several of his works were sent to the Exposition in Paris ; 
he was the only English artist who received the great gold medal. 

There are many pretty stories told of the origin of some of his 
pictures, and others of the prices paid for them. One is that his 
life-long friend Jacob Bell had a picture by Sir Edwin, which he 
bought for one hundred guineas and sold for two thousand. He placed 
this sum to Sir Edwin's bank account, and narrated the circumstance 
to the artist, telling him that the seller wished another picture 
painted for the two thousand guineas. Landseer was delighted with 
the story, and exclaimed : " Well, he shall have a good one ! " When 



STOEIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 343 

he discovered that the seller was Bell himself, he painted for him the 
" Maid and the Magpie," which the owner afterwards presented to 
the National Gallery. It represented a dairy-maid about to milk a 
cow ; the maid stays to listen to her lover, who stands in the door-way. 
She has put a silver spoon in one of the wooden shoes beside her, and 
a magpie is carrying it away ; from this theft the maiden later suffers 
untold trouble. The story is from Poussin's " La Gazza Ladra." 

Sir Edwin Landseer was also a sculptor ; and though he executed 
but few works in this art, the colossal lions at the base of Nelson's 
Monument in Trafalgar Square are a triumph for him. He was 
chosen for this work on account of his great knowledge of the 
"king of beasts." At his death he had modelled but one; the 
others were done from it under the care of the Baron Marochetti. 

Sir Edwin continued to work in spite of sadness, failing health 
and sight, and in the last year of his life executed four pictures, 
one being an equestrian portrait of the queen. 

He died Oct. 1, 1873, and was buried with many honors in St. 
Paul's Cathedral. He left a property of £ 250,000 ; and the pictures 
and drawings in his studio were sold for £ 70,000 ; and all this 
large sum, with the exception of a few small bequests, was given to 
his brother Thomas and his three sisters, £ 10,000 being given to 
his brother Charles. 

Many of the pictures of Sir Edwin Landseer are familiar to 
all lovers of art. " High Life " and " Low Life, " " A Highland 
Breakfast," " Dignity and Impudence," the " Cat's-Paw," " The 
Monarch of the Glen, " " The Piper and Nutcrackers ," and others 
are well known as prints to many people in many lands, for 
they are pictures which are much loved. It is needless to add 
any long opinion of the artistic qualities of this master ; the critic 
Hamerton has happily summed up his estimate of him in these 
words : — 



344 STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. 

" Everything that can be said about Landseer's knowledge of animals, and espe- 
cially of dogs, has already been said. There was never very much to say, for 
there was no variety of opinion, and nothing to discuss. Critics may write volumes 
of controversy about Turner and Delacroix, but Landseer's merits were so obvious 
to every one, that he stood in no need of critical explanations. The best commen- 
tators on Landseer, the best defenders of his genius, are the dogs themselves ; and 
so long as there exist terriers, deerhounds, bloodhounds, his fame will need little 
assistance from writers on art." 



INDEX. 




PORTRAIT OF MRS. SIDDONS. (l!Y T. GAINSBOROUGH.) 



INDEX. 



Abbot, Mary, 322. 

"Abraham receiving the Angels," 257- 

Academy of St. Luke, 81, 243. 

Academy of Venice, 91, 101. 

Aecaderhia della Crusca, 142. 

Achilles, 34, 35. 

Acropolis, the, 29. 

Adda, the river, 55. 

" Adoration of the Kings," 217. 

" Adoration of the Shepherds," 242. 

iEgina, 33. 

" iEueas with the Sibyl at Lake Avernus," 331. 

iEsculapius, temple of, 4. 

Action, 7. 

Agatharcus, 2. 

Agesander, 28. 

Agoracritus, 15, 16. 

Aix-la-Chapelle, 227, 327. 

Ajax, 34. 

Albert, Archduke, 169. 

Albert, Prince, 340. 

Albertina, the, 210. 

Alcala, Duke of, 252. 

Alcamenes, 12, 15, 16, 18, 32. 

Alcazar, the, 243. 

Alexander Ceraunophorus, 27. 

" Alexander in the Tent of Darius," 154. 

Alexander the Great, 3, 4, 26, 27. 

Alexander, time of, 7. 

Alexandria, 5, 22, 26, 30. 

Alexandria, Saint Catherine of, 121. 

Algiers, 285, 290. 

Alhambra, the, 163. 

Alighieri, Dante, 65. 

Allegri, Antonio and Lorenzo, 111. 

Almack's, 308. 

Alphonso I., of Ferrara, 93. 

Altis, 11. 

Altovili, Messer Bindo, 142. 

Alva, Duke of, 295. 

Amerighi, Michael Angelo, 157. 

Amphion, Greek artist, 5. 



Amphiou, King of Thebes, 21, 30. 

Amsterdam, 197, 198, 201. 

Amsterdam Museum, 205. 

"Analysis of Beauty," 301. 

" Anatomical Lecture," 205. 

Andalusia, 247. 

Anderlys, 266. 

Andrea del Sarto, 102, 103. 

Andreas, John, 233. 

Angelico da Fiesole, Fra, 51. 

Angelo, St., castle of, 139, 140. 

Anguisciola, Sofonisba, 1S9. 

Anjou, Charles of, 44. 

Annunziata, Church of the, 142. 

Anthony, Saint, 255. 

Antiope, 30. 

Antrum, 42. 

Antonello, 163. 

Antonines, time of the, 7. 

Antonio Allegri, 111. 

Antwerp, 165, 169, 170, 176, 177, 1S2, 189. 193, 

225, 227, 297, 29S. 
Antwerp Academy, 185. 
Antwerp Cathedral, 175, 181. 
Antwerp Museum, 166. 
Apelles, 3-5, 27, 101. 
Apollo, 6, 21, 22, 32, 34, 42. 
Apollo Belvedere, 42. 
Apollo Sosianus, 18. 

"Apollo Triumphing over Python," 291. 
Apollonius, 29. 
"Apostles," Durer's, 21S. 
Apsley House, 242. 
Ariadne, story of, 93. 
Arno, the river, 136. 
Arras, 74. 
Artemis, 21, 22, 26. 
Artemisia, 23. 
Arundel, Earl of, 1S2, 297. 
Asclepiodorus, 5. 
Asclepius, 32. 
Asinius Pollio, 29. 



348 



INDEX. 



Assyrians, the, 10. 

Athena, 10. 

Athenodorus, 28. 

Athens, 3, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 24, 35, 36-41. 

Augsburg, 96, 207. 

Augustus III., Elector of Saxony. 75. 

Augustus, 4, 30, 31, 43. 

" Aurora," 148. 



" Babes in the Woods," 315. 

Babylon, Hanging-Gardens of, 22. 

Bacchus, 41, 93. 

" Bacchus and Ariadne," 93. 

Bacon, Sir Francis, 296. 

Bacon, Sir Nathaniel, 296. 

Badajoz, 237, 23S. 

Badia, the, 125. 

" Baillie Family," 322. 

Baleu, Heinrich von, 178. 

Baltimore, 290. 

Bandinelli, Baccio, 28, 141. 

Baptistery of Florence, 129. 

Barberiui Palace, Boine, 148. 

Bargello, Museum of, 130. 

Barriere Clichy, 2S2. 

Barry, James, 333. 

Bas-relief, the first, 8. 

Bath, England, 31S, 324. 

" Battle of Tolosa," 282. 

Bavon, St., Cathedral of, 161. 

Bazzi, or Bazzi, 153. 

Beaumont, Sir George, 314. 

Bcckside, Cumberland, 322. 

Belgian art, 159. 

Belgium. 159, 161. 

Bell, Jacob, 342. 

" Bella di Tiziano, La," 93. 

Bellini, Giovanni, 163, 209, 219, 220. 

Bellini, the, 8S. 

Belvedere, the, 42. 

B .unbo, Cardinal, 91. 

Bemho, Pietro, 81. 

Bentivoglio, Cardinal, 189, 271. 

Berigraude, 94, 95. 

Berlin, 98, 161, 195. 

Berlin, Museum of, 306. 

Berlin, National Gallery at. 93. 

Berncrs, Mr., 195. 

Bertoldo, 61. 

Bethlehem, 145. 

Bibbiena, Cardinal, 76, SI. 

" Black Bear," at Dcvizrs. 32 1. 

Blackfriars, 194. 

Blenheim Tavern, the, 30S. 

"Blue Boy," 321. 

Bin.' Stockings, the, 308. 

Boboli Gardens, 125. 



Bohemia, 207. 

Bologna, 61, 68, 94, 95, 136, 143, 144, 146, 147. 

151, 152. L55-157. 
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 2s. 
Bondone, Giotto di. 47. 
Boniface VI 1 1., Pope, 17. 
Borghese, Cardinal, 1 17. 
Borgo AUegri, II 
Boston, 189, 334. 
Bourbon, Constable de, 74, 139. 
Brant, Isabella, 170. 
Brentford, 330. 
Brera, gallery of the, 09. 
Breughel, Hell, 176. 
Breughels, the. 166. 
l'.ril, Paul, 166. 
Bristol, 321. 

Britisli Museum, the, 11, 13, 21, 32, 36, 216. 
Bronze Horses of Venice, the, 30. 
Bruges, 164. 
Bran, M. Le, 281. 

Brim, Madame Le, 275, 276, 279-281. 
Brunelleschi, 122, 124-126, 129, 130. 
Brunei to Latini, 47- 
Brunswick, Duchess of. 155. 
Brussels, 161, 195, 226, 287. 
Brvaxis, 23. 
" Buecntaur." the, 92. 
Buckingham, Duke of, 296, 297. 
Buffalmaeco, 49, 50. 
Buggiaui, 129. 
Bull, the Faruese, 29. 
Buonamico, Cristofauo, 49. 
Buonarotti. Michael Angelo, 56, 58, 61. 
Burgundy, Duke of, 163. 
liuik,-, Edmund, 311, 312, 314, 316. 
Burr, Margaret, 318. 



Cadiz, 116, 248, 25S. 

Cadiz, Cathedral ..I', 261. 

Cadore, 87, 93, 94. 

Cagli, 69. 

( 'alliniachus, 14, 15. 

Callirhoe, 8. 

Callon, 35. 

Calvart, Denis, 114. 

i lampafia, 261. 

Cano. Alonso, 245, 263—265. 

Canova, 102. 327. 

( lapitol, the. Bome, 32. 
Capitoline Museum, Rome. 18. 

Caprese, ca.stle of, 58. 

Caracalla, 29. 

Caracei, Agostdno, 1 13. 

Caracci, Anuibale, 115, 143. 141. 117. 

( laracci, Ludoi ioo, 143, 147. 

( laracci school, 147. 



INDEX. 



349 



Caracoiolo, Gianbattista, 158. 

Caravaggio, 147, 157. 

"Cardinal Beaufort," 315. 

Caria, 23. 

Carlos, Don, 264. 

Carnarvon, 317- 

Carpacoio, 219. 

Cartoons of Raphael, 71, 71, 297. 

" Casa Grande," of Titian, 95. 

Cashiobury, 336. 

Castelleone, 87. 

Castillo, Juan de, 247, 248, 263. 

Castor, 32. 

" Cat may look at a king, A," origin of, 215. 

Caterina Cornaro, 91, 92. 

Cathedral of St. Mark, 30. 

Cathedral of St. Paul, 194. 

Catherine, Saint, story of, 120. 

" Cat's-Paw," 336, 343. 

Cavalliui, Pietro, 85. 

Cavendish, Anne, Lady Rich, 195. 

Cellini, Benvenuto, 135, 139, 140, 265. 

Cenci, Beatrice, 148. 

Cephisdotus, 16. 

Ceres, 116. 

Chamagne, 267. 

Chantrey, 341. 

" Chapeau de Paille," 176. 

Chares, 25. 

Charlemagne, 227. 

Charles I., King, 74, 173, 182, 192, 193, 195, 

297, 298, 328. 
Charles 11., King, 74. 
Charles IV., Emperor, 207. 
Charles V., Emperor, 49, 94-96, 164, 222, 227, 

231, 236, 292, 294. 
Charles X., 285. 
Charles of Anjou, 44. 
Charmides, 10. 
" Cheating Gamesters," 157. 
Chigi, the banker, 73. 
Chiswick Churchyard, 301. 
Chiusi, 58. 

Choragic Monument, 41. 
Choragus, 41. 
Christie, 322. 

Chryselephantine, definition of, 10. 
Cicero, 2. 
Cilicia, 18. 
Cimabue, 43, 44, 47- 
Cithferon, Mt, 30. 
Claude, 268, 271, 272. 
Claude Gelee, 267. 
Claude Lorraine, 267, 273, 331, 335. 
Clement VII., Pope, 80, 94, 139, 140, 151. 
Clement IX., Pope, 271. 
Cleomenes, 17. 
Cnidian coins, 32. 



Cnidian Venus, 16, 17. 

Cnidos, 16. 

Colman, 207. 

Cohiaghi, 332. 

Cologne, 207, 227- 

Colonna, Vittoria, 65. 

Colossi, the, 26. 

Colossus, the, 22, 24-26. 

Columbus, 124, 209. 

"Communion of Saint Jerome," 144. 

" Condemnation of Marie Antoinette," 290. 

Confraternity of St. Luke, 193. 

" Congregation Cassinensi," 116. 

" Connoisseurs," 342. 

Constantine, baths of, 32. 

Constantine, city of, 285. 

Constantine, Emperor, 31, 120. 

Constantine, salon of, 286. 

Constantinople, 27, 31. 

" Conway Castle," 315. 

Copernicus, 209. 

Corenzio, Belisario, 158. 

Corinth, 9, 15. 

Corinthian capital, 14. 

Cornaro, Caterina, 91, 92. 

Corona d' Italia, order of, 66. 

Correggio, 111, 112, 116, 263. 

Cortona, 126. 

Cos, 4, 16. 

Cosimo, Pietro di, 102. 

Cosmo I., of Florence, 95. 

Cosmo III., 17. ' 

Cotau, Sanchez, 246. 

" Cottage Door," 322. 

" Cottage Girl with Dog and Pitcher," 322. 

Courtrai, 190. 

Covent Garden, 330. 

Coventry, Lady, 307. 

Coxcien, Michael, 161. 

Cremona, 87. 

Cremyll Beach, 304. 

Croce, Santa, Church of, 125, 126. 

Cromwell, 74. 

" Cromwell Contemplating the Remains of Charles 

I," 290. 
Croton, temple of Juno at, 1. 
Crusaders, the, 31, 107. 
Cruz, Santa, Church of, 261. 
Cumberland, Duke of, 307. 
Cupid, statue of, 19, 32. 
Cuyp, 331, 335. 
Cyprus, 91, 92. 

" Dancing Eattn," 107. 
Danby, Lord, 74. 
Danby, Mrs., 332. 
Dante, 47, 65, 66. 
David, statue of, 62, 65, 131. 



350 



INDEX. 



David, Jacques-Louis, 2S7, 288, 289. 

"Day " and "Night," statin's of, 65, 66. 

Dean of Deny, 310. 

"Death of Dido," 315. 

Delacroix. Ferdinand Victor Eugene, 290. 

Delaroobe, Hippolyte, 289, 890. 

" Delhi Sedia," Madonna, 76. 

Delphi, 42. 

Demetrius Poliorcetes, 6, 25. 

" Descent from the Cross," 175, 1S1, 211, 261. 

Devizes, 324. 

Devonshire, Duchess of, 322. 

Devonshire, Duke of, 272. 

De\ onshire, the, 30S. 

Diana, 21, 22, 26, 13, 116. 

Dibutades, S, 9. 

Dickens, 311. 

*■ Dignity and Impudence," 343. 

Dilettanti Fortnightly, the, 308. 

Diomed, statue called. 11. 

Dionysos, 30. 

Dioscuri, the, 32. 

Dnee. story of, 29, 30. 

Discobulus, 14. 

"Discourses on Art." 308. 

Dobsou, William, 29S. 

Domenicbino, 143, 145, 146. 

Domenico, Giovanni, 272 

Domitian, Emperor, 31. , 

Donatello, L23, 125, 126, 131, 132, 135, 141. 

Donne, Dr., 295. 

Dorotheus, 4. 

Dow, Gerard, L9S. 

" Drappellone," or a procession standard, 75 

" Dream of Jacob," 238. 

Dresden Gallery, 75, 115, 119, 195, 237. 

" Drunken Bacchus," statue of, 62. 

Duchess of Devonshire, 322. 

Dulwicb Gallery, 314. 

Diirer, Albert, 209, 210, 213-222, 225-228, 231- 

234. 
Dutch School, the. 196. 
"Dying Youth," statue of, 65. 



" Eclectics," school of, 143. 

" Ecstasy of Saint Catherine," 154. 

Edgecumbe, Lord, 305, 306. 

Edward, Prince, 307. 

Edward III., 292. 

Edward VI., 294. 

Egg, story of the, 124. 

Egina, 33, 34, 35. 

Egypt, painting in, 1. 

Egypt, Pyramids of, 22. 

Eleanora, Duchess, 142. 

Elcuthera', 13. 

' Elevation of the Cross," 190. 



Elgin Marbles, the, 11. 13. 

Elgin, the Earl of, 11, 36. 

Elis. 11. 13. 

Elizabel h. Queen, 295. 

El Tino80 t 255. 

Einesa, 25. 

Encaustic painting, 3. 
Endymion, statue of, 14. 
Ephesus, 22. 26, 27. 
Ercolani Gallery, 157. 
Escorial, the, 142, 237, 213. 
Esquiline Hill. II. 
Essex, Earl of, 336. 
Este. Cardinal Ippolito d', 140. 
Estevan, Caspar. 247. 
Etampes, Madame d', IP). 
Eunieliaii Club, the, 308. 

1 \: I: r ( hang: let 
Eyck, Hubert van. 159, 161. 
Eyck, Jan van, 162, 163, 164. 
Eycks, the Van, 160, L63. 



Farxksb Bull, the, 29. 

Farnesiua Villa, Rome, 71, 154. 

■' least of Rose Garlands," 21?, 220. 

Ferdinand I.. Emperor, 102. 

Ferdinand VII., 236. 

"Feria," the, 21S. 

Ferrara, Duke of, 93, 95 

Fiesole. 51, 125. 135. 

Fiesole, Era Angelico da, 51 

Fiiiiguerra. Maso, 1 23. 

Flanders. L59, L62, L89 

Flemish Artists, hv.i. 

■■ Flora," by Tnian, 93. 

Florence, 13, 11, 17-51, 56. 58, 62. 65. 66, 70 
85. 98, L02, L03, in;. 122, 121, 129. 135. 163, 
Dili, 189, 214. 217. 246, 279, 288, 298 

Florence, gallery (it. 14,15 

Florence. Gallery of Painters, 73. 

Florence, Ctli/.i Gallery, 21, 32. 

Florianus, Toniasin, 226. 

Foligno, 71. 

" Fondaco dci Tcdesehi." Venice, SS, 219. 

Fondolo, Marquis Gabrino, B6. 

Fonseca, 212. 

Fontainebleau, 57. 

Fontainebleau, Palace of, 140. 

Forum, tin- Roman, 38. 

" Fountain of Mary," in Egypt, L05 

" Four Philosophers," 176. 

Fourment, Helen. 173, 1 75. 

Era Angelico da Fiesole, 51. 

Fra Bartolommeo, 70. 

Fraucesea, Murillo's daughter, 253, 261. 

Francis I., King, 5?. 75. 103, 140. 

Frederick of Nassau, I 82 



INDEX. 



$51 



Freiburg, 267. 

Prey, Agnes, 214. 

Prey, Hans, 232. 

Friedlaud, battle of, 285. 

Friuli, 87, 95. 

Frouc, Madame Tripier Le, 2S1. 

Gainsborough, Thomas, 317, 318, 321, 324. 

Gama, Vasco di, 209. 

Gardens of Semiramis, 22. 

Garriek, 301, 310. 

Gates of Baptistery, Florence, 130. 

Gatta-Melata, Fraueiseo, statue of, 131 

Gaudalquivir, tbe, 251. 

Gauls, the, 42, 43. 

Geest, Cornelius vau der, 165. 

Gelee, Claude, 267. 

Gelee, Jean, 267. 

Gemini, the, 32. 

Genoa, 76, 169, 186, 189. 

George II., 301. 

George III., 302, 307, 322. 

George IV., 328. 

George, Saint, 75. 

George, Saint, statue of, 132. 

Ghent, 159, 161. 

Ghiberti, 49, 129, 130. 

Ghirlaudajo, 58, 61, 70. 

Giorgione, 88, 163, 202, 219. 

Giotto, 44, 47-49. 

Giovanni Evangelista, San, Church of, 112. 

" Girl with a Mob-cap," 315. 

Glycera, 3. 

Glyptothek, Munich, 32, 33. 

Golden House of Nero, IS. 

Goldsmith, 176, 310, 313. 

Gomez, Sebastian, 262. 

Gongora, tbe poet, 242. 

Gonsalvi, Cardinal, 327. 

Gonzaga, Duke Federigo, 115. 

Gouzaga, Duke Vineeuzio, 169. 

Gorgons, the, 142. 

Goths, the, 27- 

Cower, Countess, 329. 

Gowrie, Earl of, 193. 

Granacci, Francesco, 58, 61. 

Granada, 263, 264. 

Granada, Cathedral of, 265. 

Gravelot, the engraver, 318. 

•" Great and Little Horse," 215. 

" Great and Little Passion," 215. 

Great Newport Street, London, 306. 

Greece, 1, 8. 

Gregory XVI., Pope, 82. 

Greuze, Jean Baptiste, 274, 275. 

Grimm, 132. 

Grosvenor, Sir Richard, 301. 

Guercino, 151. 



Haarlem, 190. 

Hadrian, time of, 7. 

Hague, the, 182, 198, 205. 

Halicarnassus, 22, 23. 

Halicarnassus sculptures, 24. 

Hals, Franz, 190. 

Hamerton, 343. 

Hamilton, Colonel, 321. 

Hamilton, Lady, 323. 

Hampton Court, 71, 292, 298. 

Hanging-Gardens of Semiramis, 22. 

" Harlot's Progress, A," 300. 

" Hartley and Child, Mrs.," 316. 

Harvard' College, 189, 332. 

Hatton Square, 31S. 

Hay, Mr. John, 244. 

Haydon, 335. 

Hayman, Francis, 318. 

" Healing of the Paralytic," 257, 258. 

Helen, picture of, 1. 

Heller, the merchant, 221. 

" Hemicycle," tbe, 289, 290. 

Henry III., 292. 

Henry III., of France, 101. 

Henry IV., 170, 207. 

Henry VII., 292. 

Henry VIIL, King, 75, 293, 294. 

Hephaestus, 15. 

Heracleia, 1. 

" Hercules strangling the Serpents," 315. 

Hermitage, the, 237, 262. 

Herrera, the Elder, 241, 263. 

"Highland Breakfast, A," 343. 

" High Life," 343. 

Hilliard, Nicholas, 295, 297. 

Hippodrome, Constantinople, 31. 

Hirschvogel, 208. 

Hobbema, 321. 

Hogarth, William, 298-302. 

Holbein, Hans, 293, 294. 

Holland, painting in, 196. 

Holzschuher, Jerome, 217. 

Homer, 12, 42. 

Horre, the, 148. 

Hospital of the Innocents, 125. 

Hospital of St. George, 257- 

Hotel de la Monnaie, 140. 

Hotel de Petit Nesle, 140. 

Hours, the, 14S. 

Hudson, Thomas, 305. 

" Hundred Guilder Print," 204. 



Ialysus, 6. 
" Idler," 307. 

"Immaculate Conception," 253. 
"Infant Christ appearing to Saint Anthony of 
Padua," 255. 



352 



INDEX. 



Ingres, Jean Dominique Augustiu, 28S, 2S9. 

Innocent X., Pope, 243. 

Ipswich, England, 318. 

Isabella, Empress of Spain, 96. 

Isabella, the Princess, 163. 

" Isaiah," the, 314. 

Isle of Pheasants, 245. 



James I., 182, 290. 

James, St., Church of, 173. 

Jameson, Mrs., 246. 

Jamesone, George, 29S. 

Januarius, St., Chapel of, 146. 

Jena, Battle of, 285. 

" Jesuit's Treatise on Perspective," 304. 

Jesuits. Church of the, 90. 

John of Gaunt, 194. 

Johnson, Dr., 304, 306, 307, 309, 310. 

Jones, Inigo, 297. 

Joseph II., Emperor, 217. 

Juan, San, Church of, Madrid, 261. 

Julius Ctesar, 4. 

Julius II., Pope, 28, 42, 71, 139, 154. 

Julius II., Pope, tomb of, 65. 

Juno, statue of, 12. 

Juno, temple of, 1. 

Jupiter, 12, 21, 22, 32, 37, 42. 

Jupiter, statue of, 22. 



Kendal, 322. 

Kensington Museum, South, 75. 

Keppel, Commodore, 305, 306. 

Kessel, Van, 246. 

" Knight and Death," 215. 

Knights of St. John, 24. 

Knights of the Bath, the, 308. 

Koberger, 210. 

Koberger's printing-house, 208. 

Kora, 8, 9. 

Krafft, Adam, 209. 

Kugler, 216. 



" La Belle Jardiniere," 71. 
La Caridad, 257. 
Ladies' Club, the, 308. 
" Lady Jane Grey," 290. 
" La Gaz/.a Ladra," 343. 
Lamb, Charles, 301. 
Lambeth Palace, 331. 
Landscer, Charles, 335, 343. 
Landsecr, Edwin, 335, 339-344. 
Landseer, John, 335. 
Landsecr, Thomas, 335, 343. 
Lanzi, 163. 
Laocoon, group of, 2S. 



Laocoon, story of, 29. 

"Last Judgment," painting of, 62. 71. 

Lastman, Pieter, 197. 

I. :ili ran. the. 14. 

Lateran, St. John, Church of, 1^ 

Latini, Brunetto, 17. 

Latona, 21. 

La Virgen de In Servilleta, 258. 

Lawrence, SirTliomas, :;it. 324. 321 

Lc Brun, M., 881. 

Le Brun, Madame, 275. 276, 279-281. 

Legend of a Spanish painter, 84. 

Legend of Saint Agues. 1< >7 - 

Legend of Saint Lawrence, 96. 

Legend of the Painter of Florence, S2. 

Legend of the Virgin, 69, 91. 

Leghorn, 74. 

Leicester Fields, 301. 

Leicester Square, London, 307 

Lenox Library, New York. 306. 

Leo X., Pope, 57, 71. 76, 93. 

Leochares, 24. 

Leonardo da Vinci, 51, 55-5S. 70 

Les Meninas, 244. 

" Le Stanze," of Raphael, 71. 

Leto, 21, 22. 

Leyden, 197. 

Liber Sludiorum. 332. 334. 

Liber Veritatis, 271, 331. 

Lindos, 25, 26. 

" Little Marchioness," the, 315. 

Lizard, Apollo with a, 32. 

Lodore, Castle of, ^7. 

Loggia dei Lanzi, 111. 

London, 191, 204, 248, 258, 299. 

London National Gallery, 93. 161. 205, 24 ! 

299, 300, 301. 
Longfellow, 233. 
Lorenzetto Lotti. 76, 81. 
Lorenzo de' Medici, 49, 61. 
Lorenzo, San, Church of, 66. 125. 135. 
Lorraine, Claude, 246, 267. 
Lorraine, Duchy of, 267. 
" Lo Spasimo," 75. 
" Lo Sposalizio," 69, 70. 
Louis XIII., 193, 266. 
Louis XIV.. King, 74, 245, 274. 
Louis Philippe. 282, 285. 
Louvain, 165. 
Louveeiennes, 280, 2S1. 
Louvre, the, 32, 58, 75, 120, 11". 170. 1S6, 193. 

195, 237. 253, 251, 263, 265, 291. 
"Low Life," 343. 
Lucas van Leyden, 202, 209. 
Lucian, 7. 
Lucius Lucullus, 3. 
Ludgate Hill. 298. 
i Luigi de' Francisi, San. Church of. 273. 



INDEX. 



Luke, St., Academy of, 81. 
Luke, St., Company of, 142. 
Lusiguan, Prince, 92. 
Luther, Martin, 209, 22S. 
Luxembourg Gallery, 290. 
Lysierates, 41. 
Lysippus, 26, 30. 



Maaseyck, 159. 

Mabuse, Jean, 292, 293. 

" Macbeth aud the Witches," 315. 

" Madonna del Sacco," 104. 

Madonna delle Grazie, Convent of, 55. 

"Madonna di Foligno," 71. 

" Madonna di San Francesco," 107, 115. 

Madrid, 93, 158, 242, 243, 245, 251, 256, 261, 264. 

Madrid, Academy of San Fernando, 255. 

Madrid, Gallery of, 235, 238, 241, 246, 257, 265. 

Madrid, Museum of, 76, 96. 

"Magdalene," 119. 

" Maid and the Magpie," 343. 

"Maida Vale," 340. 

"Maids of Honor," 244, 246. 

Makart, Hans, 92. 

Malone, Mr., 309, 311. 

Mantegna, Andrea and Francesco, 111. 

Mantua, 169. 

" March of the Guards to Finchly," 301. 

Marco, San, Convent of, 51. 

Marco, San, gardens of, 61. 

Margaret, Queen of Navarre, 75. 

Margaret, Regent, 226. 

Margate, 330. 

Maria del Fiore, Church of, 44, 49, 123, 125. 

Maria di Bibbiena, 76, 81. 

Maria, Donna, 294. 

Maria Gloriosa de' Frari, Santa, 101. 

Maria Novella, Santa, Church of, 43, 58, 126. 

Maria Teresa, Infanta, 245. 

Marie Antoinette, Queen, 275, 280. 

Mark Antony, 18, 30. 

Mark, St., Cathedral of, 30. 

" Market-Cart," 321. 

Marlborough, Duke of, 307. 

Manage a la Mode, 300. 

Marochetti, Baron, 343. 

" Marriage of Alexander and Roxana," 154. 

" Marriage of Saint Cathei'ine," 120. 

Marseilles. 268. 

Marsyas, statue of, 14. 

Martin Luther, 209. 

" Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence," 96. 

Mary, Princess, 164, 294. 

Mary, Queen, 294. 

Mary, the Virgin, 35. 

"Mary Magdalene," 119. 

Massiui Villa, Rome, 14. 



Massys, or Matsys, Quintin, 165, 209, 225. 
Matarea, 104. 
Mausoleum, 23, 24. 
Mausolus, 22-24. 

Maximilian, Elector of Bavaria, 219. 
Maximilian, Emperor, 221, 222. 
Maximin, Emperor, 121. 
Medici, Cardinal Giulio de', 80. 
Medici, Cosimo de', 132, 135, 141, 155. 
Medici, Ippolito de', 94. 
Medici, Lorenzo de', 49, 61. 
Medici Palace, Rome, 17. 
Medici, Piero de', 61, 135. 
Medici, Venus de', 17. 
Medicis, Marie de', 170, 175. 
Medusa, 10, 42. 
Medusa, head of the, 141. 
" Melancholy," 215. 
Melos, 18. 

Memnon, the Singing, 26. 
Memnonium, 26. 
Merlini, Girolama, 115. 
Messina, 162. 

Messina, Antonello da, 162. 
Mexico, 248. 

Michael Angelo, 56, 58, 61, 62, 65, 66, 70, 71, 80, 
81, 95, 107, 130, 139, 141-143, 202, 312, 314. 
" Michael Angelo of Spain," 263. 
Milan, 55. 
Milton, 312, 324. 

Minerva, 10, 11, 12, 13, 34, 36, 37, 39, 43, 142. 
Minerva, temple of, 15, 33. 
"Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes," 257. 
"Miraculous Annunciation," 85. 
Mirandola, Duchess of, 155. 
"Miser," 166. 

Mona Lisa del Giocondo, 58. 
" Monarch of the Glen," 343. 
Montafies, 263. 
Montauban, 288. 
Monte Cavallo, 32. 
Montgomeryshire, 317- 
Morales, Luis de, 237, 238. 
More, or Moro, Sir Antonio, 294, 295. 
Morocco, 290. 
Morosini, 35. 
Mortesana, 55. 
"Moses," statue of, 65. 
" Moses Striking the Rock," 257- 
Moya, Pedro de, 248. 
Mugello, Guido Petri de, 51. 
Munich, 232, 246. 
Munich, gallery at, 14, 219. 
Munich, Glyptothek, 32, 33. 
Munich, Pinakothek, 161. 
Munro, Dr., 330. 
Murano, Island of, 94, 95. 
Murillo, 236, 245, 247, 248, 251-258, 261-263. 



23 



354 



INDEX. 



Murillo, sons of, 253, 261. 
"Muscipula," 315. 
Museo, Plaza del, Seville, 2G1. 
Myron, 13. 



Naples, 41, 17, 157, 15S, 162, 23S, 267- 

Naples, Bay of, 268. 

Naples, Museum of, 18, 29, 32, 95. 

Naples, Viceroy of, 146, 157. 

Napoleon I., 76. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, 28, 31, 287. 

Narbonne, Cathedral of, 80. 

Nassau, Frederick of, 1S2. 

National Gallery, 317, 322, 323, 330, 334, 343. 

Naturalists, school of, 143. 

Naxos, island of, 93. 

Nelson's Monument, 343. 

Nemesis, statue of, ]5. 

Neptune, 29. 

Nero, 4, 27, 31. 

Nero, Gulden House of, IS. 

Newton, Mr., 24. 

New York, 334. 

Nicholas V., Pope, 51. 

Nieomedus of Bithynia, 16. 

" Night," statue of, 65, 66. 

" Night Watch," 205. 

Nigris, M., 280. 

Nigris, Madame, 2S0. 

Nineveh, Lions of, 10. 

Niobe, 30. 

Niobe Group, 18, 27, 32. 

Niobe, statue of a son of, 14. 

Niobe, story of, 21, 22, 26. 

Nomentana, Via, Rome, 10S. 

Noort, Adam vau, 169. 

Normandy, 266. 

Northcote, Sir James, 309. 

Norton, Professor, 332. 

Notte, the, Dresden Gallery, 119. 

Nunziata, Convent of, 102. 

Nuremberg, 207, 209, 210, 213, 217, 221, 228, 

231, 233. 
Nuremberg Council, 218, 231, 232. 
" Nuremberg Eggs," 208. 
Nuremberg Guild of Painters, 214. 
Nuremberg Rathhaus, 219. 
Nympliseum, 9. 



Octavia, Portico of, Rome, 17. 

"Offy," 309,315. 

" Old Temeraire," 334. 

Olivarez, 242, 243. 

Oliver, Isaac, 296. 

Oliver, Peter, 296. 

Oliveto, Monte, Palermo, 75. 



Olympia, 11. 

I llympian Jupiter, statue of, 11. 

Olympic Games, 7. 

Oplieni, Anna van, 1S5. 

Orange, Prince of, 139, 182. 

Orford, Lord, 302. 

Orleans, Duke of, 282, 2s5. 

< > 1 } 1 1 1 1 .- 1 1 1 IV., Caliph, 25. 

Our Lady of the Rosary, Chapel of, 156. 

Oxford, 321. 



Pac iieco, Francesco, 241, 242, 263. 

Padua, 131. 

"Painted Chamber," 292. 

Palais Royal, 285. 

Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, 56, 62. 

Palermo, 75, 76, 189. 

Pallas, 33, 34. 

Palma Veechio, 202. 

Palmer, Thcopliila, 30S. 

Pauathcuaea, procession of the, 38, 39. 

Pantheon, the, SI, 82, 2?:'.. 

Pantheon, the new, 308. 

Pareja, Juan, 242, 262. 

Paris, 28, 31, 32, 57, 103, 120, 182, 186, 195, 

246, 275, 279-282, 285, 2S3. 
Paris, arrow of, 34. 
" Parish Clerk," 322. 
Parma, 112, 115, 116. 
Paros, islaud of, 18. 
Parrhasius, 2. 

Parthenon, the, 10, 11, 13, 35, 36, 37, 38. 
" Passage of St. Bernard," 387. 
Paul, Cathedral of St., 194, 313, 333, 343. 
Paul III., Pope, 95, 140. 
Paul Veronese, 256, 257. 
Pausiaa, 3. 

Peace, temple of, Rome, 6, 14. 
" Pencllo Lagrcmato, II," 157. 
Peninsular War, 116. 
Penni, Francesco, 81. 
Peplos, 3s. 
Perez, Maria, 247. 
Pericles, 10, 13. 
"Perseus," 141. 
Perugia, 69. 70. 
Perugino, 69. 

Pesaro altar-piece, the, 101. 
Peter's, St., Rome, 62, 65, 76, 125. 
Petersburg, St., 158, 237, 262, 279, 285. 
rhaleros, 12. 

Pharos, Light-house, 22, 26. 
Phidias, 10-13, 15, 16, 22, 23, 32. 37. 40. 
Philip, 4. 

Philip II., of Spain, 96, 112. 161. 235-237, 294, 
Philip IV., of Spain, 176. 235, 212. 244, 215. 
Philip the Good, 163, 164. 



INDEX. 



555 



Phrygian helmet, 34. 

Phryne, 16, 17. 

Piaceuza, 75. 

Piazza del Duomo, 129. 

Piero Maggiore, San, 66. 

"Pieta, La," 62, 65. 

Pilas, 252. 

Pinoian Hill, 271. 

Pinegas, 317. 

" Piper and Nutcrackers," 343. 

Pirkheimer, WiUibald, 210, 217, 219, 220, 228, 

232. 
Pisa, 136. 

Pisa, Cathedral of, 107. 
Pisano, Andrea, 129, 130. 
Pitti Gallery, 93, 176, 189. 
Pitti, Luca, 125. 
Pitti Palace, 125. 
Pius VII., Pope, 74. 
Pliuy, 6, 25, 27. 

" Plunder-master-general of Napoleon," 258. 
Plymouth, Devonshire, 305. 
Plymptou, Devonshire, 303, 308, 309. 
Pollux, 32. 
Polyodorus, 2S. 
Pope, Alexander, 12. 
Popolo, Santa Maria del, Church of, 76. 
"Portrait of Mrs. Morris," 316. 
Portsmouth, 328. 
Portugal, 163, 294. 
Pourbuses, the, 166. 
Poussin, 193. 

Poussin, Nicholas, 266, 268, 271, 331, 335. 
Prague, 207, 217. 
Praxiteles, 16-18, 27, 32. 
" Presentation of the Virgin," 91. 
"Prodigal's Return," 257. 
Protogenes of Rhodes, 5, 7. 
Proxenidas, 7. 
Ptolemy, 4, 5. 
Pypeliug, Mary, 166. 
Pyramid, the Great, 26. 
Pyramids of Egypt, 22. 
Pythis, 24. 



Quadriga, the, 24. 

Queen Anne Street, 332, 333, 335. 

Queen Caroline, 329. 

Queen Elizabeth, 295. 

"Queen Elizabeth of Hungary washing the Head 

of a Leprous Boy," 255, 257. 
Queen Marie Antoinette, 275. 
Queen Mary, 294. 
Queen Victoria, 273, 340. 
Quirinal Hill, Rome, 18, 32. 
Quirinal Palace, 32. 
Quorneh, 26. 



" Rake's Progress, A," 33C. 

Raphael, 8, 65, 66, 69, 70, 74-76, 80-82, 88, 107, 

143, 144, 165, 202, 209, 228, 232, 235, 266, 

304. 
" Release of Saint Peter," 257. 
Rembrandt, 197, 19S, 201, 202. 
Reni, Guido, 146, 147, 151, 152, 155, 156. 
Reparata, Saint, 124. 
" Repose, The " (// Riposo), 104. 
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 194, 303, 305-316, 318, 

321, 322, 324, 327, 331, 333, 341. 
Reynolds, Samuel, 303, 304. 
Rhamnns, 15. 
Rhine valley, 267. 
Rhodes, 5, 6, 22, 24, 28, 29, 32. 
Ribera, 157, 158, 236, 238, 241, 245. 
Rich, Lady, 195. 
Richmond, Duke of, 307. 
Richmond Hill, 308. 
Rimini, 129. 

Robert, King of Naples, 47. 
Rodiana, Onorata, S6. 
Romano, Giulio, 81. 
Rome, 6, 8, 14, 17, 28-30, 32, 42, 47, 51, 62, 65, 

71, 74, 80, 81, 93, 95, 111, 123, 125, 139, 144, 

148, 151, 154, 157, 169, 189, 192, 238, 243, 

251, 266-268, 279, 282, 2S5, 288, 305. 
Romney, George, 316, 322. 
Rosa, Salvator, 315. 
" Rose Garlands," 220. 
Rospigliosi Palace, 148. 
Rotello del Pico, the, 55. 
Rovere, Cardinal della, 42. 
Roval Academy, Loudon, 302, 308, 324, 330, 335, 

336. 
Rubens, Peter Paul, 74, 166, 169, 170, 173, 175, 

176, 1S1, 182, 185, 235, 245, 246, 297, 298, 

313, 324. 
Rudolf II., Emperor, 217. 
" Ruins of the Villa of Maecenas, at Tivoli," 317. 
Ruskin, 273, 314, 334. 
Ruthven, Maria, 193. 



Saeinella, Queen, 120. 

" Saint Cecilia," by Raphael, 82. 

" Saint Jerome's Penance," 214. 

" Saint Thomas of Villanueva distributing Alms," 

255. 
San Donato sale, 195, 206. 
San Marco, Convent of, 51. 
Santa Croce, 66. 
Santiago, Order of, 244. 
Santissima Annunziata, Church of, 85. 
Santo Spirito, Church of, 125. 
Sauzio, or Santi, 66. 
Sarto, Andrea del, 102, 107. 
Saskia von TJlmburg, 198, 201, 206. 



356 



INDEX. 



Satyrs, 41. 

Savelthem, 1S5, 1S6. 

Scalzo, the, 102. 

Schaus, Mr., 255. 

Scopas, 18, 24, 27, 32. 

Scott, Sir Walter, 339. 

" Scuola della Carita, La," Venice, 91. 

Sebastian del Piombo, 80, 81. 

Semiramis, Queen of Babylon, 22, 26. 

Settignano, 58. 

Seven Wonders of the World, 22, 26. 

Seville, 116, 235, 241, 242, 247, 248, 251, 252, 

257, 25S, 261. 
Seville, Academy of, 253. 
Seville, Cathedral of, 255, 265. 
Seville, Museum of, 255, 258. 
Seymour, Jane, 295. 
" Shepherd Boy in a Shower," 322. 
" Shepherd Boys with Fighting Dogs," 322. 
" Shepherds Adoring the Infant Saviour," 116. 
" Shipwreck," 334. 
Sicyou, 3, 8,- 9. 

Siddons, Mrs. Sarah, 314, 322. 
Siegeu, 166. 
Siena, 136, 153, 154. 
Siena, Saint Catherine of, 121. 
Sierras, the, 251. 
" Sigismunda," 301. 
Sinai, Mount, 121. 
Sinon, 29. 

Sipylos, Mount, 21, 22. 
Siraui, Elisahetta, 155, 156. 
Sistiue Chapel, Vatican, 62, 71. 
Sistiue Madonna, 75. 
Sixtus II., Bishop of Rome, 96. 
Sixtus, St., Convent of, 75. 
" Slave Ship," 334. 
" Sleeping Cupid," statue of, 62. 
Smart, Rev. Thomas, 304. 
Smith, Sydney, 341. 
Smybert, John, 189. 
Snyders, Frans, 176, 246, 339. 
Soane Museum, London, 306. 
Soddoma, II, 153, 154. 
Somerset House, 313. 
Sosius, 18. 

Sotomayor, Dona Beatriz de Cabrera y, 252, 253. 
Soult, Marshal, 252, 253, 257, 258, 265. 
South America, 248. 

South Kensington Museum, 71, 334,335. 
Spagnoletto, Lo, 157, 158, 238. 
Spain, 290. 

Spanish School of Painting, 235. 
Spinola, 246. 
Stafford, Earl of, 193. 
Stafford House, 258. 
Star and Garter, the, 308. 
Stephen's Chapel, St., 292. 



Stephen's Day, Saint. 71- 

Stirling's Artisls of Spain, 215. 

St. John, Knights of, 24. 

St. John's Wood Road, 339. 340. 

St. Martin's Lane. London, 306, 318. 

Stoss, Veit, 209. 

Strabow, Monastery of, 217. 

" Strawberry Girl," 309, 315. 

Street of the Tripods, 41. 

Strogonoff, Baroness de, 279. 

Styx, river, 34. 

Sudbury, Suffolk, 318. 

"Sun rising in a Mist," 334. 

Surrender of Breda. 216. 

Sutherland, Duke of, 258. 

Swanenburg, J. J. vau, 197. 

Sycamore, the, — its siguificauce, 107. 

Syria, 18. 



Tafi, Andrea, 49, 50. 

"Taking of a Redoubt," 2S2. 

Tantalus, 21. 

Tassi, Agostino, 26S, 272. 

Taunscus, 29. 

Temple of Diana, 22, 26. 

Temple of Juno, at Croton, 1. 

Tenedos, 29. 

Teniers, 235, 246. 

Thames, the, 330. 

Thebes, 21, 22, 26, 30. 

Theodosius, Emperor, 27. 

Theseus, 36, 37, 93. 

Thetis, 34. 

Thirty Years' War, 220. 

Thornhill, Sir James, 299. 

Thorwaldsen. 33. 

Thursday-Night Club, the. 308. 

Timothe'us, 23. 

Tintoretto. 235. 

Titian. 87, 88, 91-97. 102,107,143,165,169, 

185, 194, 219. 235, 268. 
Titus, Emperor, 88. 
Tolomelli, Lucia. 156. 
Tomb of Mausolus, 22. 
Torregiano, 139. 
Torso, 36. 

Trafalgar Square, 343. 
Trajan. Emperor, 31. 

"Transfiguration," by Raphael. 81,144, 324. 
Tribune of the Uffizi Gallery, 107. 
Tritonis, shield of, 29. 

" Triumphal Arch of Maximilian," 215, 221. 
Trojan War. 3 I. 
Trojans, tin-. 29. 

Troy, 29. 

Tuileries, Palace of, 266. 

Turin, 1S9, 195. 



INDEX. 



357 



Turk's Head, tie, 308. 

Turner, Charles, 332. 

Turner, Joseph Mallard William, 273, 330-335. 

" Tyrant of Cremona," the, 86. 



Uffizi Gallery, 17, 21, 32, 62, 66, 92, 107, 

131, 166, 217. 
Ulm, 207. 

Ulmburg, Saskia von, 198. 
"Ulysses, 34. 

Urban VIII., Pope, 271. 
Urbiuo, 66, 95. 
Utrecht, 294. 



Vjenius, Otho, 169. 

Val d'Arno, 52. 

Valerian, Emperor, 97. 

Valicella, Santa Maria in, 169. 

Van Balen, 176, 178. 

Van de Velde, 335. 

Vandyck, 107, 176, 177, 181, 182, 185, 186, 

190-195, 235, 241, 257, 297, 298, 313, 314, 328. 
Vaunucchi, 102. 
Vasari, 50. 

Vatican, the, 51, 71, 74, 144, 154. 
Vatican Museum, 17, 28, 29, 32. 
Vauxhall Masquerades, 308. 
Vecelli, family of Titian, 87. 
Velasquez, 236, 241-246, 251, 254, 257, 261-264. 
Veneziano, Domenico, 163. 
Venice, 61, 87, 88, 92-94, 102, 162, 163, 169, 

207, 217, 219, 268. 
Venice, Bronze Horses of, 30, 31. 
Venus, 32. 

Venus Anadyomene, 3. 
Venus Aphrodite, 15. 
Venus Callipiga, 18. 
Venus dei Medici, 17, 107. 
Venus of the Capitol, 18. 
Venus of Milo, 18. 
Venus, statue of, 15. 
Vercelli, 153. 
Vere, Marquis de, 292. 
Vernet, 276, 287. 
Vernet, Horace, 282, 285, 286. 
Verocchio, Andrea del, 52. 
Verona, 49. 
Veronese, Paul, 235. 
Versailles, 276, 287, 290. 
Verulam, Earl of, 296. 
Vespignano, 44. 
Vesta, temple of, 32. 
Victor Emmanuel, 125. 
Victor Emmanuel, King, 66. 



Victoria, Queen, 273. 

Vienna, 210, 279. 

Vienna, " Cabinet of Antiques," 140. 

Vigee, Marie Louise Elizabeth, 275. 

Villa Earnesina, 73. 

Villa Medici, 21. 

Vince, Castle of, 52. 

Vinci, Leonardo da, 52, 58, 339. 

Virgil's jEneid, 29. 

" Virgin of the Goldfinch," 70. 

"Virgin of the Napkin," 258. 

Virgin Mary, the, 35, 69. 

Vischer, Peter, 209. 

Vittoria Colonna, 65. 

Vosges Mountains, 267. 

Vulcan, 15. 

Vulgate, the translation of, 145. 

Vydt, Judocus, 160. 



Wagram, Battle of, 285. 

Waldegrave, Countess, 307. 

Wales, Prince of, 342. 

Walters Gallery, 290. 

" Water-carrier of Seville," 242. 

"Watering Place," 321. 

Waterloo Chamber, 327, 330. 

Watteau, Antoiue, 274. 

Wellington, Duke of, 255. 

West, Benjamin, 194, 328. 

Westminster, 292. 

Westminster, Duke of, 314. 

Westphalia, 207. 

Westphalia, King of, 282. 

Whitehall, 74, 193. 

Whitehall Banqueting House, 296. 

Wilson, Mr. Heath, 66. 

Wilson, Richard, 317, 318, 321. 

William III., King, 74. 

Windsor Castle, 166, 195, 295, 322, 327. 

Wohlgemuth, Michael, 213, 214. 

"Wood Scene with Village of Cornard in the 

Distance," 321. 
Wren, Sir Christopher, 74, 313. 

Xatita, 238. 

York, 193. 

Yuste, Monastery of, 96. 

Zahpieri, Domenico, 144. 

Zethus, 30. 

Zeus, 37. 

Zeuxis, 1, 2, 101, 255. 

Zuccato, Sebastian, 88. 



H 33i 78 ^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 227 945 6 



-.V -^ .:,■■': • 

8HISI 



111 ■.<=#: 






■Hi 



$§§111 

■HBP '■■■■' 

■:--."--.o:^r;- 






n 




Hr 



iaa 



